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Telekom trims Net float?
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March 31, 2000: 2:41 a.m. ET
Report: Offer price range for German T-Online trimmed as investors turn cool
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Deutsche Telekom executives have lowered their expectations of the price they can ask for shares of the company's Internet unit T-Online, a published report said Friday, as a worldwide sell-off in technology shares threatened to sap demand for the unit's initial public offering next month.
Although Telekom won't publish the price range for the share sale until Monday, bosses had favored pricing stock in the Web access provider between  30 and 50 a share, valuing Europe's largest ISP at as much as 55 billion ($52.5 billion). However, a recent string of dismal performances by the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index in the U.S and big declines for a host of European Internet stocks has led the Telekom board to lower the top end of its desired price range to 40, the Financial Times said, citing people close to the board.
The climate for Net-based share offerings has changed since the last two significant European Net floats, the U.K.'s Lastminute.com (LMC) and World Online of the Netherlands. Both companies held IPOs this month, only to see their shares quickly sink below the offer price.
World Online closed Thursday some 42 percent below the ISP's flotation price on Mar. 17. Web-based shopping site Lastminute has plunged after its shares climbed more than 50 percent in the first day of trading.
To be sure, shares of Italian broadband Internet company E.Biscom rose 38.75 percent on their stock market debut in Milan Thursday after an IPO that valued the company at 11 billion and ranked as the second most popular in the country's history.
Telekom will sell 9 percent of T-Online  . The subscription period for the shares will run from April 3 to 12, and shares start trading April 17.
Telekom's own shares (FDTE) have climbed strongly this year, buoyed by hopes that the T-Online float and the possible sale of a stake in its mobile-phone unit will unlock value that's not yet reflected in the telecom company's share price. The stock fell 0.9 percent to 82.55 at the start of trading in Frankfurt Friday. 
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Deutsche Bank
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