Press Releases

Budapest, November 14, 2007 15:00

It was exactly 10 years ago, on November 14, 1997, that Magyar Telekom’s shares were listed simultaneously on the Budapest and New York Stock Exchange.

Chairman-CEO Christopher Mattheisen said in connection with the anniversary: “Our IPO ten years ago was a huge step towards our goal to become a leading enterprise in the telecommunications industry in the Central and South-East European region and to be able to provide services of ever higher standard for our customers. We feel an ongoing commitment to sustaining the high performance levels delivered by Magyar Telekom. For this reason, we took important decisions recently to establish a new management structure and to improve cost and headcount efficiency. This way we can ensure long-term competitiveness that serves the interests of our customers, employees and shareholders alike.”

The launch of Magyar Telekom’s IPO was a major milestone in the privatization process and development of the capital market in Hungary. The global share offering, consisting of Hungarian and international institutional and retail offering, was a pioneering and exemplary transaction both in Hungary and the Central and Eastern European region. Magyar Telekom was the first among the the region’s telecom companies to take this step. In terms of its size the IPO of Magyar Telekom shares was the largest transaction on the capital market until that date not only in Hungary, but also in the entire region.

Already from the first trading day Magyar Telekom has been a significant player of the Hungarian and international capital markets and over the 10 years it has continuously been in the focus of investors and analysts. It became one of the the four blue chips, i.e. the leading shares with the highest turnover and market capitalization on the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE). Soon after the IPO it was included in the BUX basket on which the stock exchange index is based, and has maintained a decisive weight there. Magyar Telekom shares (traded until May 2005 as Matáv shares) were fully dematerialized in September 2004.

Out of the Central European companies, Magyar Telekom’s shares were the first to be listed on the world’s leading stock market, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), still as the only Hungarian company since that time. Magyar Telekom shares are also quoted on SEAQ International in London.