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 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 ($1.3 billion) of debt — in a pre-pack administration deal.