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América Móvil buys stake in Telekom Austria

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal published Monday, Mexican telecommunications company América Móvil has confirmed that it has now secured a majority stake in the former national phone company of Austria, with 50.8 percent.

Published: 15 July 2014 01:31 CEST
América Móvil buys stake in Telekom Austria
Carlos Slim. File photo: APA

The report says that the company controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim has made an offer of around 104 million shares, consisting of 23.5 percent of Austria Telekom, at the rate of €7.15 ($9.74) for each Telekom Austria share.  The offer gives Slim close to the 51 percent which he sought.

The deal will come as América Móvil sheds some assets in Mexico to avoid regulatory measures levied against potential market dominance, as that country's largest incumbent telecommunications provider.

Slim first moved into Europe in 2012, acquiring stakes in Telekom Austria and Dutch provider Royal KPN.  The Netherlands company has rejected offers for a full buyout, which have been welcomed by Austrian shareholders.

América Móvil, also known by its stock symbol AMX, has recently focused on transactions in Europe. It dominates the Latin American cellular market with 270 million lines in 18 countries.

Last week, Slim announced that he will sell off part of his massive holdings in Mexico where he controls 80 percent of land lines and 70 percent of cellular lines — to focus more on cable television.

His moves were to come into compliance with Mexico's new telecoms regulations seeking to boost competition in the Mexican market. Slim is expected to reduce his market shares to under 50 percent, or face fines.

Slim, América Móvil's billionaire founder from a family of Lebanese immigrants, figures regularly on a list of the world's richest men.

He ranked number two after Bill Gates on Forbes magazine's most recent wealth survey this year, with family assets of $76.1 billon.

The Austrian Federal Competition Authority BWB (Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde) gave a green light to the Telekom-Austria voting trust agreement between the Austrian state-holding company, ÖIAG, and the Mexican company in June.


Telekom Austria corporate headquarters in Vienna. Photo: Telekom Austria

This article was revised to reflect that the currently agreed stake is 50.8 percent, and not the 51 percent previously sought by Slim. Portions of this report are sourced from AFP.

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BUSINESS

Where are Austria’s big international companies located?

Austria's most prominent international companies are involved in banking, insurance, and construction projects worldwide, many but are they all found in Vienna?

Published: 1 December 2023 11:33 CET
Where are Austria's big international companies located?

Here’s where each of the ten largest companies in Austria, by revenue generated last year, are located, both within Vienna and outside of the capital.

One of Central and Eastern Europe’s biggest insurance firms, the Vienna Insurance Group is headquartered in the capital. Their main offices are directly north of the Innere Stadt on Schottenring, close to the Rossau district.

A fellow insurance firm, the Uniqa Group, is located close by. Owning over fifteen significant insurance providers across Europe, they are market leaders alongside Vienna Insurance Group. Their headquarters can be found in the eponymous Uniqa Tower, on Ferdinandstraße close to the Karmeliterviertel.

Erste Group, one of the continent’s biggest providers of financial services, was founded just over two hundred years ago in Leopoldstadt, a suburb adjoining Vienna’s centre to the east. Today, the group is headquartered in the Erste Campus, less than a five-minute walk from Vienna’s central train station.

Founded in the fifties, OMV is the country’s largest oil and gas company. The company owns three European refineries, including one at Schwechat in Lower Austria, near the capital. The company is based in the Hoch Zwei building in the Second District, near the banks of the Danube.

Construction company Strabag, responsible for massive infrastructure projects across Europe and South East Asia, is located across the Danube from OMW, near the Austria Centre and the expansive Donaupark.

Banking giant Raiffeisen International is headquartered in the Weissgerberviertel, north of Vienna’s city centre. Other divisions, including their software development teams, are based throughout the city centre.

Construction company Porr Group, which has many subsidiaries in Austria and involvement in significant railway building projects throughout Europe, has headquarters in Vienna’s south, five kilometres away, in the Favoriten district.

Verbund AG, Austria’s largest energy provider, can also be found outside Vienna’s centre. It is based to the south-west, close to the Mariahilf district and the city’s Westbahnhof, or western train station.

Steel and technology group Voestalpine is located away from Vienna in Linz, Upper Austria, roughly equidistant between Salzburg and Vienna. The company’s headquarters can be found between the Spallerhof district and the Industriegebeit, or industrial area.

Finally, international metals and technology firm Andritz AG is also based outside Vienna, in Graz in Styria. Their headquarters is some distance from the city centre, in the district which gave the company its name: Graz-Andritz.

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