Friday May 9, 01:00 PM
Telekom Austria's principal shareholder mulls splitting group - report UPDATE
(Updates with response from Telekom Austria (Vienna: TKA.VI - news) )
VIENNA (Thomson Financial) - Telekom Austria AG's
principal shareholder, Austria's state industrial holding OIAG, is mulling the merits of splitting the telecom group into separate mobile phone and fixed-line companies, the Viennese daily Der Standard reported, citing unnamed sources within OIAG and political circles.
OIAG, which holds a 27.37 percent interest in Telekom Austria, views individual listings for the telecom group's successor companies as the ideal scenario for such a split and would aim to retain a blocking minority in both, according to Der Standard.
Alternatively, the Austrian telecom group could be split by converting shares in the currently listed Telekom Austria holding into separate stocks for its two major segments, or by selling one of the segments through a public offering.
However, all plans to split Telekom Austria depend on whether ongoing talks on lowering the group's headcount of employees with civil servant status prove successful, Der Standard cited 'informed sources'.
The newspaper reported that Telekom Austria is likely to call an extraordinary general meeting later this summer to address OIAG's proposals.
Telekom Austria spokeswoman Elisabeth Mattes declined to comment on the report. OIAG was unavailable for comment.
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