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Press conference with telecom managers in 2000
Photo: Arne Dedert / dpa
One of the largest and most protracted investor protection processes in Germany could be ended with a settlement.
In the legal dispute over the third IPO of Deutsche Telekom, the plaintiffs are offered a settlement.
The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court approved a settlement proposal by the Bonn group on Tuesday.
The approximately 16,000 plaintiffs should now receive an offer from Telekom by mid-2022.
If accepted, you will receive back the purchase price paid in 2000, from which dividends paid in the meantime and the approximate current market value are deducted.
On the other hand, 70 percent of the usual litigation interest is added.
The shares remain in the possession of the investors.
After almost 20 years, Deutsche Telekom is getting closer to a solution in its dispute with thousands of small shareholders.
The Dax group could face expenses in the three-digit million range.
"The Senate advises everyone involved to conclude this settlement," said the presiding judge, Bernhard Seyderhelm.
Trouble about US involvement
Relevant investor protection lawyers and the three defendants Deutsche Telekom, the Federal Republic of Germany and the state bank KfW reached an agreement on the solution before the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court.
However, it is up to the individual plaintiffs to decide whether or not to accept the settlement.
An offer is to be submitted to each of them by the end of June 2022.
Shortly after the third IPO in 2000, the first lawsuits were filed against Telekom by shareholders.
They complained that the group had made false statements in the prospectus in connection with its stake in the US company Sprint.
According to a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice in 2014, the risks related to Sprint were not adequately described.
The shares entered the market in June 2000 at a starting price of EUR 66.50.
The all-time high of 103.50 euros was several months ago.
Today the paper is quoted at around 17 euros and thus not too far from the original issue price in 1996, i.e. 28.50 D-Marks (14.57 euros).
Around 16,000 small shareholders felt misled at the time and had filed suits with the Frankfurt Regional Court since 2001.
According to her, her exchange rate losses totaled around 80 million euros.
The recapitulative model procedure has not yet been legally concluded.
mmq / Reuters / dpa
