O2 shareholders decide PPF can buy out all remaining O2 shares

Prague, Jan 27 (CTK) - The PPF Telco group will buy out the remaining stakes from minority shareholders of telecom operator O2 Czech Republic, O2 shareholders decided at a general meeting held per rollam on January 3-26.

The proposal was supported by 91.9 percent of votes.

After the buyout, PPF plans to withdraw O2 from the Prague Stock Exchange (BCPP).

PPF Telco has so far been O2's majority shareholder with more than 90 percent of shares.

PPF had set the buyout price at Kc270 per share. The Czech National Bank (CNB) approved the proposal in December. The buyout will be conducted by PPF's banking arm PPF banka and should be completed by mid-2022.

Further details are to be published on the company's website.

O2 shares have been trading between Kc268 and Kc269 per share in recent days.

O2 shares have been listed on the Prague bourse since 1995, originally under the name SPT Telecom. The operator gradually changed its name to Cesky Telecom and then to O2 Czech Republic. In 2015, infrastructure owner CETIN split off O2. CETIN issued its own shares that were obtained by O2 shareholders. PPF as the majority shareholder later bought out the CETIN shares at Kc172 per share.

After acquiring all 100 percent of O2, the PPF group plans to integrate O2 into its telecommunication division PPF Telecom Group.

PPF Telecom Group comprises mobile operators active under the Telenor brand in Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia and infrastructure company CETIN Group, which operates in all the above-mentioned countries as well as in Czechia.

Analysts said earlier the withdrawal of O2 shares from the Prague bourse would lower the attractiveness of the Czech stock market.

"PPF will thus deprive the domestic capital market of the seventh most traded issue with a stable dividend yield," Radim Dohnal of Capitalinked.com said earlier.

According to Cyrrus analyst Tomas Pfelier, O2's withdrawal may lead to a drop in large foreign funds' interest in the domestic bourse, as the Prague market does not offer a sufficiently large number of big and stable companies traded on it.

O2 has 5.97 million mobile clients and 855,000 Internet users. In 2020, it raised its consolidated net profit by 7.1 percent to Kc5.85bn and revenues by 2.6 percent to Kc39.8bn.

PPF invests in a number of sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, media, real estate, biotechnology and engineering. It is active in 25 countries, owns assets worth EUR40.3bn and employs 80,000 people worldwide.

tam/er