Germany has no final date for full privatisation of Telekom, Post

The German government has no final date yet for when it will completely privatise Deutsche Telekom AG and Deutsche Post World Net AG, Finance Minister Hans Eichel said in an interview with AFX News partner dpa-AFX.

Eichel said the government’s basic goal is still to dispose of all its shares in the two companies.

‘Disposing of all the shares need not necessarily take place in 2004 or 2005,’ he said. ‘The market conditions will determine the right time.’

Eichel said he is also confident the government will be able to meet its target of generating 15 bln eur in privatisation proceeds next year regardless of fluctuations in the stock market. ‘I am optimistic we will get it,’ he said.

He said the government will carry out the privatisation process by first ‘parking’ the shares with the state-owned development bank Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW), which would then later directly place the shares with private investors.

‘We are not under pressure. And no one in the market can speculate a sale would be forthcoming just because the government has to make a disposal’ to meet its target for proceeds, he said.

He added that the shares held by KfW would only be sold if they could get a a ‘decent price’.

The government currently directly owns 26 pct shares in Telekom while KfW holds another 17 pct.

The government also directly holds a 20 pct stake in Deutsche Post while Kfw owns more than 40 pct.

Financial sources say they think the government wants as many small shareholders to own the shares and is not keen to sell a big block of shares to institutional investors.

Eichel said the government wants a complete privatisation not simply to plug the budget deficit but also because such a move would have an influence on the company’s affairs.

‘If you want global companies to have Germany as their base, then the state has to make an exit…’ Eichel said.