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OeIAG chief wants to keep stake in Telekom

Rudolf Kemler, chief of the state holding company for industry OeIAG which currently holds 28.4 percent of the Telekom Austria shares wants to keep this stake after the increase in capital which is planned for 2015.

OeIAG chief wants to keep stake in Telekom
Rudolf Kemler with America Movil CFO Carlos Garcia Moreno. Photo: APA/Jäger

It was therefore necessary to take out new loans which would be paid back with money obtained from dividends, Kemler told the daily newspapers "Kurier" and "Presse" in an interview which was published on Sunday.

It was always better to have "some more leeway" instead of being in danger of losing the blocking minority of 25 percent of the shares, he said. Kemler also made it clear that a layoff of Telekom Austria's CEO Hannes Ametsreiter was out of question.

According to the syndicate contract with America Movil concerning a strategic partnership, the OeIAG has the power to decide who would become Telekom Austria's CEO.  America Movil, which is owned by Mexican billionaire tycoon Carlos Slim, now holds 51 percent of Telekom Austria shares.

The cooperation between the OeIAG and the Arab state fund IPIC (International Petroleum Investment Company, Abu Dhabi) concerning Austrian national oil and gas company OMV was "stable and solid after there was a discussion in 2012", he said. OeIAG currently holds 31.5 percent and IPIC 24.9 percent of OMV shares.

Moreover Kemler said that he hoped that a reform of the OeIAG which was planned by the government would take place in autumn. This would include a fund to support Austrian enterprises. "With 100 million euros one can do a lot", Kemler said. However, it was also necessary to convey a reform to all companies that belong to the state. This would include at least 30 companies which were now split among seven ministries.

Some of them would do better within the OeIAG, Kemler said. Concretely he named the energy branch, Casinos Austria and national railways OeBB provided that infrastructure and those parts close to the market were clearly separated.

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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?

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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