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EBRD sold stake in Lithuanian telecoms firm Lietuvos Telekomas
The EBRD has sold its stake in the Lithuanian telecom company AB Lietuvos
Telekomas (LT), the market leader in fixed-line and internet services in
Lithuania and one of the country’s largest companies on the Vilnius stock
market.
The 63 million shares, held in the form of global depositary receipts,
represented the EBRD’s entire shareholding, or 7.73 per cent of total LT
shares. The shares, which are listed on the Vilnius Stock Exchange and as
global depositary receipts on the London Stock Exchange, were placed with
institutional investors through CA IB, the investment bank of Bank Austria
Creditanstalt, at an exit price which represented a small discount to today’s
closing price of LTL 2.32 on the Vilnius Stock Exchange, demonstrating LT’s
strong performance and the positive sentiment towards the telecoms sector.
The Bank originally acquired its stake in LT in June 2000 as part of an
initial public offering when 25 per cent of the company was sold by the
Lithuanian state.
EBRD Business Group Director Peter Reiniger said the Bank acted as a
cornerstone investor in LT at the time of its IPO. Since then the company has
continued its transformation into a prominent telecoms provider in central
Europe through modernisation and development. The Bank has full confidence in
the ability of LT’s management to develop the company and expand its range of
services. By selling its block to a broader institutional investor base at a
time when interest in Baltic securities is increasing, the Bank seeks to
deepen the liquidity of LT shares and contribute to the development of
Lithuania’s capital markets.
The EBRD remains committed to transition investments in the new EU member
states in their post-accession phase.
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