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By Tom Freke

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Weather Investments has won the battle to keep control of debt-laden Greek mobile operator Wind Hellas, the company said on Thursday.
Beating off a rival restructuring bid from a group of subordinated bondholders, as well as a last-minute approach from PPF Partners, Weather Investments has secured agreement from a majority of senior lenders for their deal, Wind Hellas said.
The news came alongside bleak third-quarter results for Wind Hellas, showing falling revenues, earnings and subscriber numbers.
"We look forward to taking our proposals to the noteholders and thereafter providing the necessary support to ensure that the Wind Hellas Group can drive its business forward once again," said Weather Investments' Aldo Mareuse.
Weather Investments, majority-owned by Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris, will inject about 125 million euros ($185.6 million) into the company as part of the debt restructuring deal.
Weather Investments has owned the company since 2007, when it bought it from private equity firms Apax Partners and TPG .
Weather and Wind Hellas' parent Hellas II will launch a process to secure the full backing of debtholders for the restructuring in the next few days, Weather said.

Wind Hellas first sought restructuring offers at the end of August as the company began to run out of cash. The company then suspended interest payments to subordinated bondholders in October.
As part of Weather's successful offer, senior bondholders will see interest rates rise on their debts.
The restructuring deal is likely to cut Wind Hellas's 3.2 billion euro debt substantially. Subordinated bondholders, owed about 1.1 billion euros, have said they fear their investments will be completely wiped out.
Wind Hellas said it had lost a further 209,000 mobile subscribers in the third quarter of 2009 in the face of stiff competition from rivals OTE and Vodafone.
Revenues in the third quarter were 17 percent lower than the same period in 2008 while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped 26 percent, to 98 million euros. EBITDA in the fourth quarter is expected to total just 59-64 million euros, Wind Hellas said.
Revenues are likely to decline further in 2010 before returning to growth in 2011, the company added.

(Editing by David Cowell and Tim Dobbyn)

($1=.6734 Euro) Keywords: WINDHELLAS/WEATHER (tom.freke@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0)207 542 4036; Reuters Messaging: tom.freke.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

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