Deutsche Telekom may choose to delist OTE

By Anestis Dokas

OTE telecom’s exit from the Athens Stock Exchange next year has emerged as a likely development that would leave the local bourse even poorer in capitalization terms.

OTE chief executive Michalis Tsamaz stated a few days ago in Barcelona that parent company Deutsche Telekom may acquire an additional 10 percent stake in the Greek telecom provider.

Stock trading history has taught that all major multinationals withdraw their subsidiaries from their regional bourses. As for the German telecom giant, its final decision on OTE will depend on the course of the Greek company’s stock price. If it decides to withdraw OTE, it will deprive the particularly shallow Greek market of the company’s 4.8-billion-euro capitalization.

OTE is one of only three Athens-listed companies that belong to foreign groups. The other two are cement company AGET Iraklis, which belongs to France’s Lafarge SA, and Minoan Lines, the coastal shipping firm owned by Italy’s Grimaldi Compagnia di Navigazione. None of the above has yet expressed an official demand for their delisting from the local stock market.