Egyptian telecoms tycoon Naguib Sawiris, owner of Weather Investments, said on Thursday he had put in a binding bid for Greece's Wind Hellas, his latest effort to keep control of the Greek telecom operator.

Sawiris currently owns the Greek firm through Weather Investments, which also owns another Wind-branded company in Italy and just over half of Cairo-based Orascom Telecom.

Cash-strapped Wind Hellas, stung by a price war with rivals Cosmote and Vodafone, said in July it would restructure its debt for the second time in a year and had invited bids for the company.

The deadline for binding offers was Sept 15 and Wind Hellas will choose a preferred bidder by Oct 14.   

Asked by mobile phone text message if he could confirm he had made a binding bid for Wind Hellas, Sawiris responded: 'Yes'. He did not give any further details.   

Weather was able to buy back Wind Hellas last year -- as well as shave off more than 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of debt -- in a pre-pack administration deal. - Reuters