Press Releases

Budapest, November 24, 2005 13:00

Magyar Telekom has initiated in November 2005 the liquidation process of Stonebridge Communications AD, its subsidiary in Macedonia. As a result of changes in the ownership structure of Stonebridge, whereby it is now 100% owned by Magyar Telekom, there no longer exists any need to maintain this holding company.

Stonebridge was established in December 2000 by three corporations - i.e. Magyar Telekom (earlier Matáv); SEEF Holdings (a subsidiary of Soros Investment Capital); and CosmoTelco - in order to harmonize the interests of the shareholders and to provide business and management consultancy services. Through Stonebridge, these companies owned 51% of the shares of Makedonski Telekomunikacii AD (MakTel).

The main role of Stonebridge throughout the past period was the coordination and representation of its owners' interests in MakTel and it ensured the exercise of the ownership rights arising from the owned shares. However, as Magyar Telekom has since bought the shares of SEEF and CosmoTelco during the past period and in this way has become the sole owner of Stonebridge and 51% of the shares of MakTel by the end of 2004, the intermediary role and participation of Stonebridge in the ownership chain has become unnecessary. Thus Magyar Telekom initiated the liquidation procedure of Stonebridge in accordance with the relevant Macedonian laws.

By implementing the aforementioned, Magyar Telekom will thereby directly own its shares in MakTel, thus simplifying the ownership structure. This change does not have any impact on the everyday operations of MakTel.