State completes EUR1.1 billion OTE stake sale

Greece’s Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis announced yesterday that the government has completed the placement of a 10.7% stake in former monopoly telco OTE, launched yesterday morning, lowering its holding to 28%. Following an accelerated book-building sale, which drew strong investor interest from abroad, the minister said that ‘the Greek government will collect EUR1.1 billion (USD1.5 billion) from the further privatisation, which will significantly contribute to the reduction in the public debt…With great success, the Greek government has completed the offer of OTE shares to institutional investors.’ Alogoskoufis added that the offer was significantly oversubscribed (reportedly by over four times) and that it had been completely taken up by 11:15 a.m. Greek time. Given the strength of investor demand, the placement of 52.45 million shares was priced at the high end of the offer range, at EUR21.40 a share.