The Mexican telecommunications group America Movil has increased its stake in the partly state-owned Telekom Austria by 5.55 percent to 56.55 percent, Telekom announced Monday evening. The Mexicans around business owner Carlos Slim, one of the richest people in the world, joined the local market leader eleven years ago when they took over 21 percent from Austrian investor Ronny Pecik.
Until 1998, Post & Telekom Austria, which was then part of the Austrian Post, was wholly owned by the state. Shortly before the turn of the millennium, Telecom Italia acquired a 25 percent stake in Telekom. “We want to make Austria the hub of transport services in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe,” the Italians said at the time.
In 2000, Telekom went public under Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP) and Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser, at an issue price of EUR 9 per share at the time, and is currently quoted at just under EUR 7.
In 2012, Carlos Slim joined the company, which now owns more than half of the former state-owned company. The current head of Telekom Austria is Thomas Arnoldner, who took over from America Movil man Alejandro Plater – and will hand it back to Plater in September.
Telekom Austria, which is also very active in Southeastern Europe, recently earned well. Profits rose to 635 million euros last year, turnover exceeded five billion euros. Including its foreign subsidiaries, Deutsche Telekom serves approximately 27 million customers with nearly 18,000 employees.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
