Status: 11/14/2022 2:51 p.m
After more than 13 years of litigation about the IPO, the Telekom process is coming to an end for thousands of plaintiffs. According to the group, most investors have accepted a settlement offer.
22 years after Deutsche Telekom’s controversial third IPO, most of the legal cases have been closed. The DAX group announced that more than 60 percent of the plaintiffs had accepted the settlement proposal supported by the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court. This applies, among other things, to the heirs of the model plaintiff who died in 2016.
In addition, around 90 percent of the individual cases have already been examined, and the “vast majority” of the plaintiffs entitled to a settlement have received an offer. The lawsuit has been going on for more than thirteen years. It started in spring 2008.
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In an unprecedented court case, around 16,000 plaintiffs had demanded around 80 million euros in damages for price losses in their shares. The lawsuits brought before the Frankfurt Regional Court were summarized in a test case for investors, in the course of which false information in the stock exchange prospectus was proven to Telekom. On this basis, Telekom offered shares in 2000.
In order to conclude the individual cases more quickly, the companies and law firms conducting the proceedings agreed to the settlement proposal that has now been implemented. The Higher Regional Court again recommended the plaintiffs to accept. Telekom has published an email address that can be contacted by plaintiffs who are no longer represented by an attorney. Those affected should be able to contact the group directly via this address.
If shareholders accept the settlement, they will receive back the purchase price of EUR 66.50 per share paid in 2000. Dividends paid in the meantime and possible sales proceeds are deducted. If investors still have the share in their custody account, an assumed value of EUR 16.50 per share will also be deducted. Then 70 percent of the usual process interest is added. Lawyers had put the total amount of the settlement payments at the conclusion of the deal a year ago at possibly around 160 million euros.
Rise and fall of the “People’s Share”
Deutsche Telekom went public in 1996. The shares were snatched from the hands of the ex-monopolist. Many Germans invested in shares for the first time. The Telekom share became a “people’s share”.
Because of the high demand, the telecommunications company carried out a second share placement in 1999 and a third in 2000. In this third IPO, the papers were offered at the early bird price of EUR 63.50. The T-Shares had reached their record level of EUR 103 a few weeks earlier and have been going down since then. Finally, the shares slipped to less than ten euros. The titles are currently trading at 19 euros.