The Boards of Panafon Emporiki S.A and Unifon S.A announce that they have decided unanimously to propose to shareholders that the two companies merge under a corporate scheme whereby Unifon will acquire the whole of the issued share capital of Panafon Emporiki. The new company will become Panafon's largest mobile communications service provider and will provide a full range of Panafon's Internet products and services as well as multimedia services.The new company will own an extensive and national distribution network of retail outlets trading under the name ?e-motion?, and will have the largest and strategically most significant network of corporate customers. It will capitalise upon the existing management skills, capital, management information systems, and human resources of both companies. It will continue to provide and promote products and information services through its ?e-motion? retail chain targeting the small office · home office supplies market.Following the completion of valuation procedures, legal requirements from the necessary authorities (Competition Committee, BOD of Athens Stock Exchange, Ministry of Development e.t.c) and the necessary approvals from the two company's shareholders, the new company's revenues will exceed GRD 200bn per annum and will be responsible for managing more than 2/3 of Panafon's total customer base which exceeds 1.9 customers.Panafon has undertaken a full review of the opportunities that will result from the liberalisation of the telecommunications market at the end of this year. This strategic merger reflects the results of this review which highlights the importance of an overall geographical spread and strong corporate ventures.The exact shareholdings will be decided upon the receipt and evaluations of independent external auditors. The new company Board of Directors will include representation from Unifon's main shareholders: Mr P. Marinopoulos, D. Palaiologos and T. Fessas who will continue to play an active role within the Company.This strategic move aims to strengthen Panafon's position as the leader in Greek telecoms market by further developing its commercial network and expanding the wide variety of products and the quality of services offered to its customers.