Hasler Holding AG and Autophon AG, two of the three biggest telecommunications equipment companies in Switzerland, have agreed to a 50-50 merger that will create a company with combined annual sales of $1,200m – still a small player in the world telecommunications market. The merged company is to call itself Ascom Holding AG, and the plan is for each of the partners to raise new capital ahead of the merger so that each share in either will be fairly exchangeable for one share in Ascom. The merger proposal will be put to shareholders in June and the combined company will also have an undisclosed cross-shareholding with the third main Swiss telecommunications firm, Zellweger Uster AG.
