GERMANY - Blackstone plans Deutsche Telekom takeover

According to press reports, the US private equity group, Blackstone is planning to raise a EUR 60bn fund by the end of 2006 in order to launch a full takeover bid for Deutsche Telekom by the beginning of 2007. This takeover would reduce KfW’s stake in the telecommunications company to 17.3% however the German government would maintain its 15.2% holding. KfW has already sold a 4.5% stake in Deutsche Telekom to Blackstone for EUR 2.68bn (EUR 14.00 per share) in April 2006.