Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Vodafone-Airtouch (NYSE: VOD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (3069)	1/9/2001 11:29:30 AM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3175

France Tel to spend all Orange proceeds on shares PARIS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - France Telecom will use all the proceeds from floating its Orange mobile subsidiary next month to buy back as many of its shares from British rival Vodafone (LSE: VOD.L - news) as it can, chairman Michel Bon said on Tuesday. France Telecom, which has an agreement to buy back 14 billion euros worth of its shares from Vodafone -- at least seven billion by end-March and the rest by end-March 2002 -- is confident the IPO will cover at least half the total. "If Orange is floated by March 31 we will use the total proceeds to buy back our shares from Vodafone up to 14 billion euros ($13.17 billion). If the IPO raises 14 billion euros we will buy back the full 14 billion, if it raises less than 14 but more than seven billion we will buy back the amount generated," he told Reuters, after a speech to Harvard MBA students. "If it raises less than seven billion euros -- and this is a scenario I don't envisage -- then we are obliged to buy back a minimum of seven billion euros in shares and the rest by March 31, 2002," Bon said. Industry sources say France Telecom expects the IPO of up to 15 percent in Orange to raise seven to 10 billion euros. The IPO is backed by a convertible bond issue to help one of the highest profile floatations of 2001 weather a volatile market. Bon added that Orange was coming to the market with six billion euros of debt and 23 billion euros in shareholder capital, giving a gearing level of 26 percent. Orange is expected to make its debut on the Paris bourse, with a secondary listing in London, on February 12, with the IPO seen starting on January 23. Retail marketing began this week.