TALLINN - The assertive media campaign that has accompanied TeliaSonera's offer to buy up 36 percent of Eesti Telekom shares from the state and individual holders raises questions about the concern-action's legality, Gert Tiivas, chairman of the board of the Tallinn Stock Exchange, said on June 7.
Tiivas said the stock exchange doubted whether TeliaSonera's media blitz to present its offer and explain its positions conforms to Estonian laws, or whether it is an attempt to manipulate the market.
According to Tiivas, both spoken and written statements by TeliaSonera's representatives are questionable.
Exchange officials, who have consulted with the Financial Supervision Authority, will keep watch on the Nordic concern's activity and issue a final opinion.
Regardless, the TeliaSonera offer sets a precedent, Tiivas said.
"An offer of this kind, where the entity offering appears to be trying very hard to prove with all possible means the quality of its offer, has not taken place before. Usually an offer is just an offer," he added.
Tiivas called the June 4 remarks by Kenneth Karlberg, head of TeliaSonera's Norwegian, Danish and Baltic operations, according to which the price of Eesti Telekom's stock will fall dramatically if the takeover attempt fails, questionable. "This definitely begs the question of whether it is an attempt to sway the market," he said. "On the one hand, there is of course free speech and every person's own opinion, but in the context of the offer, and in particular coming from a person who, due to his official position, has more information than the average shareholder, such claims cause raised eyebrows,"
With offers such as TeliaSonera's, both the law and the established good practice of the European securities market have to be observed, Tiivas said, adding that after consulting his Swedish colleagues about the matter, the latter apparently expressed his surprise at the concern's behavior.
He noted at the same time that while stock market manipulation is prohibited by law, it does not carry a penalty.
TeliaSonera made an offer to acquire all shares in Eesti Telekom at 111.30 kroons (7.11 euros) per share. At the moment of the offer's publication the stock market's price was higher than TeliaSonera's offer. It has since then dropped below the offer price.
The state of Estonia, as owner of 27 percent of the shares, rejected the offer, saying it was too low.
The offer is also contingent on TeliaSonera's acquiring enough shares for its stake in Eesti Telekom to increase to at least 85 percent.
The TeliaSonera offer is in force until June 10. On June 7 the concern published a long, paid-for article in major Estonian newspapers urging shareholders to accept the offer.
