Oman Investors Eye Telekom Austria Stake -Report

Oman Investors Eye Telekom Austria Stake -Report

Acting on behalf of the unnamed investor group, Mirko Kovats wrote to the head of state holding company OeIAG to express the Omani interest in the stake, magazine Format reported.

November 26, 2011 11:40 by Reuters

A group of investors based in Oman has shown interest in buying the Austrian state’s 28.4 percent stake in Telekom Austria, a magazine reported on Friday, citing a letter from an Austrian businessman.

Acting on behalf of the unnamed investor group, Mirko Kovats wrote to the head of state holding company OeIAG to express the Omani interest in the stake, magazine Format reported.

Format said OeIAG had ruled out such a sale in its reply to Kovats, the former head of bankrupt Austrian engineering group A-TEC.

Asked about the report on Friday, an OeIAG spokesman said: “We are a core shareholder of Telekom Austria. Period.” The 28.4 percent share gives the state holding company a blocking minority in the telecoms group.

Other investors have been eyeing Telekom Austria in recent weeks.

Austrian Ronny Pecik and allied investors last month secured options to buy about 5.5 percent of the group. This triggered a mandatory disclosure from Telekom Austria.

It came less than a month after media reports said Egypt’s Naguib Sawiris, the owner of Orascom Telecom, was planning a hostile takeover using Pecik as a cover.

Austrian media have reported that Pecik could get hold of 15-20 percent of the company after secretly securing more options through several companies.

A Telekom Austria spokeswoman said the company had no official information that Pecik was aiming to build such a stake. (Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Will Waterman)