Deutsche Telekom IPO: Telekom rules OK

The flotation of Deutsche Telekom was fenced by a thicket of regulations and employed more lawyers than syndicate staff. So how did Deutsche Morgan Grenfell get away with breaking so many of its own rules? And did the three global coordinators – DMG, Dresdner Bank and Goldman Sachs – allow themselves to be manipulated by a greedy issuer? None of this bodes well for Telekom 2. Laura Covill reports

Bookbuilding on the 14th floor: the poor quality of the catering was the least of their problems

For Ronaldo Schmitz, the highlight of the deal came right at the start. Just after German unification, the board member for corporate finance at Deutsche Bank was summoned to Bonn to meet Christian Schwarz-Schilling, then federal post and telecommunications minister.

The minister came straight to the point. How much money could be raised by floating the telephone service on the stock exchange?

Even, asked Schmitz, if the government retained a capital stake? Yes, we want to privatize fully later, Schwarz-Schilling responded.

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