NEW YORK-As it formally announced last week its intention to bid in Germany’s next-generation wireless auctions, Deutsche Telekom AG also began taking orders for a planned secondary stock offering it hopes will raise about $5.22 billion.
This public sale, the carrier’s third including its 1996 initial public offering, marks the first time the German government is selling part of its equity stake. After the sale, which is planned for June 19, the state-owned development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau, which holds DT’s shares for the government, will own a bit less than 60 percent of Deutsche Telekom.
The offering will comprise 200 million shares, or about 6.6 percent of the company’s equity. Should demand warrant, Deutsche Telekom has authorized an over-allotment allowing up to 30 million additional shares to be sold.
The pre-sale subscription period began May 31 in Europe, although buyers in the Western Hemisphere also will be able to participate before this advance order window closes June 16. As of June 1, however, information for U.S. investors was inaccessible on a special Web site Deutsche Telekom established for retail sales and advertised in The Times of London on May 28.
This stock sale marks the first time DT is making its shares available directly on a subscription basis to private investors in Japan and the United States. American and Japanese investors will, along with European investors, be entitled to discounts and incentives to buy the carrier’s new stock.
The final share price of the secondary stock sale will be set during the subscription period. Private investors who commit to purchase before June 9 will receive a discount of several dollars per share.
