Dommermuth is currently negotiating the potential share purchase with potential bank partners.
(Photo: Thies Rätzke for Handesblatt)
Berlin The German telecom billionaire Ralph Dommermuth is considering taking over the Internet and mobile communications provider United Internet, which he founded. Specifically, it is about an increase in its shares to 51 percent from the current 42 percent at a price of 35 euros per share, according to a mandatory announcement published on Thursday evening by the company. That would cost Dommermuth almost 600 million euros. He is in negotiations with a major bank. Dommermuth, who is also head of United Internet, has not yet made a decision.
The entrepreneur’s considerations were well received on the stock exchange. The share climbed by around three percent on Friday to 33.62 euros – but were below the price targeted by Dommermuth.
However, an LBBW analyst does not assume that the share will move up in the long term. He justified this with the fact that United Internet does not receive any money. According to Warburg analyst Jonas Blum, Dommermuth wants to set an example with the announcement in terms of his loyalty to the company and its intrinsic value. With 51 percent, he would have at least a safe majority at the general meeting.
Industry expert Torsten Gerpott, professor of economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, gave a similar assessment: “Ralph Dommermuth would like to reflect his confidence in the company strategy with the increase plans. All in all, it’s more of a symbolic act. “
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No withdrawal from the stock market planned
Dommermuth links his offer, which he is holding out for December, to the fact that the capital market conditions will not change significantly and that the financing will be secured. He has already received an initial offer from a major international bank.
He does not want to follow the example of Xavier Niel in France, who bought the cell phone operator Iliad he founded and took it off the stock exchange. “A withdrawal from the stock exchange is not planned,” said Dommermuth of the Reuters news agency. He is assuming that the upcoming investment programs will increase the company’s value in the long term.
United Internet and its subsidiary, the mobile operator 1 & 1, are faced with the challenge of establishing the fourth mobile network in Germany alongside Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefonica Deutschland. 1 & 1 has so far not operated its own network, but rents services from Telefonica Deutschland and Vodafone.
However, the Maintal-based company acquired frequencies at the 2019 5G auction and will now have to set up around 1,000 base stations by the end of 2022. By the end of 2025, at least a quarter of all households will have to be supplied with mobile communications, which will cost United Internet a lot of money.
In an interview with Reuters, Dommermuth admitted in August: “We are running late and have lost a lot of time, but we can make up for that.” Gerpott said: “When it comes to mobile network expansion, United Internet has its back to the wall. The company must finally create facts and, above all, make progress in setting up its own base stations. ”
More: Europe’s most valuable cloud company: United Internet will launch its subsidiary Ionos on the stock exchange from Easter 2022