Investor Ronny Pecik intends to maintain the 20.1% stake in Telekom Austria he has built with Egyptian partner Naguib Sawiris.
Pecik was quoted in media reports ahead of Telekom Austria’s annual general meeting today as saying he is comfortable with…
Investor Ronny Pecik intends to maintain the 20.1% stake in Telekom Austria he has built with Egyptian partner Naguib Sawiris.
Pecik was quoted in media reports ahead of Telekom Austria’s annual general meeting today as saying he is comfortable with the current stake held via investment vehicle RPR Privatstiftung and has no plans to either increase or decrease it for the time being. He did not, however, rule out the possibility of buying additional shares if prices fall.
Pecik and Sawiris have built their stake in the company since late 2011 and said previously they plan to increase it further.
Shareholders were set to vote at the meeting on a proposal to elect Pecik and Sawiris to the supervisory board, thereby increasing its numbers from eight to 10. At the time of publication, the AMG was still in progress and the result of the vote was not known.
According to today’s reports, Pecik said that, if he is successful in gaining a seat on the supervisory board, he will not push for immediate changes to top-level management. He will attempt to gain a clearer understanding of the situation, he was quoted as saying, and make no sudden demands that CEO Hannes Ametsreiter or CFO Hans Tschuden be replaced.
State holding company OeIAG is Telekom Austria’s biggest shareholder with a 28.4% stake.
Recent reports in Austrian media speculated that Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim – whose telecoms group America Movil has announced it intends to offer up to €3.2bn to boost its stake in Dutch telco KPN – is interested in acquiring a stake in Telekom Austria. According to the reports, Slim has already contacted Telekom Austria investors about the matter. The investor is said to be keen to expand into Europe – something he has attempted previously.
