UPDATE: Actors in Romtelecom listing and Romtelecom-Cosmote merger to be selected soon

UPDATE: The benefits of the merger between Romtelecom and Cosmote as well as the Romtelecom listing on the stock exchange will be evaluated by independent consultants, an investment bank of international reputation agreed by both shareholders (which will be contracted before the beginning of September) as well as a law firm that will provide legal help and consultancy to Romtelecom and Cosmote shareholders (to be hired before the beginning of August).

The consultants will draft a report and a project plan before December, announced Valerian Vreme, the minister of communications.

Romtelecom, with a mixed ownership by Greek Group OTE and the Romanian state, will be listed on the stock exchange in a year, the Ministry of Communications announced.

The shareholders of Romtelecom are OTE which has 54.01 percent of the shares and the Ministry of Communications with 45.99 percent. German telecom company Deutsche Telekom is also involved, as it holds a 30 percent stake in OTE.

Previously, the Romanian state had announced the intention to sell its shares in Romtelecom, hoping that it would get EUR 1 billion. After long deliberations that took some months, OTE officials communicated they would not buy the shares, due to the difficult economic context in Greece. The Romanian state announced it was willing to list the shares on the stock exchange.

“During the meeting, a common agenda was established for the listing on the stock exchange, which will be made within 12 months,” according to a press release sent by the Ministry of Communications.

The decision was made following a five-hour meeting that took place last week at the headquarters of the Ministry of Communications between state representatives and officials of the Greek group OTE and Deutsche Telekom.

Thus, the state was represented by Valerian Vreme, minister of communications, Marius Fecioru, state secretary, Ionut Negrescu, deputy state secretary, Lucian Banu, Director of the Juridical Department within the Ministry of Communications, Marius Bostan, member of the Romtelecom administration board, CÄï¿½tÄï¿½lin Niculescu, also member of the Romtelecom administration board and Radu Rizoiu, lawyer.

OTE was represented by Michael Tsamaz, OTE president, Rainer Rathgeber, member of OTE administration board, Irini Nikolaidi, OTE juridical counselor and Stefanos Theocharopoulos, Cosmote CEO.

During the meeting, it was also established that Stefanos Theocharopoulos will also take the helm of Romtelecom. See more on this subject here.

“It is for the first time when we managed to have a written agreement with the major shareholder for listing the Romtelecom shares on the stock exchange, with very clear terms,” said Vreme at the end of the meeting adding: “We managed to increase the control of the Romanian state over contracts in Romtelecom that are over EUR 500,000. The approval of the administration board is requested for contracts that are higher than EUR 4 million. In the future, the recruitment of executive managers will be carried out using specialized recruitment firms, “said Vreme.

It was also decided that any action concerning the merger between Romtelecom and Cosmote will not take place without the agreement of both shareholders, on the one hand OTE and Deutsche Telekom, and on the other hand, the Romanian state.

“Worth mentioning is that the Romanian state obtained additional guarantees concerning the growth in the value of the Romtelecom shares,” said the press release.

Otilia Haraga

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