|
France Tel. snares E-Plus
|
 |
October 18, 1999: 5:39 a.m. ET
French giant cements German presence with $8B cellular buy
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - France Telecom secured its entry into the German market Monday with the $8 billion acquisition of E-Plus, the country's third-largest cellular operator.
The French firm is paying 14.4 billion marks ($8.03 billion) for the joint 60.25 percent stake held by German utilities RWE and Veba. This adds to the 17 percent stake bought earlier this month from Vodafone AirTouch for $1.8 billion. The latest deal had been expected following France Telecom's initial investment in E-Plus.
BellSouth (BLS) retains the remaining 22.5 percent in E-Plus.
The acquisition gives France Telecom an important beachhead in the German market as it squares up to its former alliance partner Deutsche Telekom.
Telekom (FDTE) and Mannesmann (FMMN) are the German market leaders with around 8 million cellular subscribers each.
E-Plus, whose 3 million customers give it a 16 percent domestic market share, became available following recent consolidation in the German utility sector.
Viag announced the $14.3 billion takeover of rival utility Veba last month and Monday announced plans to bundle its remaining telecom assets into a new holding company, Viag Telecom.
The E-Plus deal failed to rouse investors at the start of a weak session on Europe's main markets. France Telecom shares slumped 2.5 percent in Paris while Viag lost 2.6 percent and RWE sheds 1.3 percent in Frankfurt. Deutsche Telekom was 1.7 percent lower.
-- from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
