Ote Ads Regulatory News (OTES)

19 Dec 2007 13:57

Hellenic Telecomms Organization S A19 December 2007 HELLENIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANIZATION S.A. CEO'S LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS Athens, December 11, 2007 We wish to inform you that on Friday December 7, the Government tabled a law inParliament, effective as of that date. The law sets conditions and criteriaregarding eligibility of parties intending to acquire voting rights exceeding20% in strategic industries of national importance which were previously Statemonopolies. OTE belongs to this category. The law limits maximum voting rights by a single shareholder or groups ofshareholders judged to be acting jointly to 20% unless approval is granted bythe Interministerial Privatisation Committee. Approval is conditional on thefulfillment of criteria safeguarding public interest, indicatively are mentionedoperational expertise, transparency regarding intended strategy, control ofownership of shareholder etc. The law further stipulates that decisions by companies considered to be ofstrategic national importance need approval by the Minister of Economy in orderto carry out certain actions such as dissolution, merger, change of purpose,major divestments etc. Ohe law intends to provide an orderly framework for privatization. It will bediscussed and voted in Parliament soon and there may be amendments. If passed,which we expect, it will be applicable as of the date it was tabled. We believethat this development does not affect in the least the value of OTE which willdepend on the effectiveness of the management in carrying out the business plan,as it has been doing in the past. About OTE OTE Group is Greece's leading telecommunications organization and one of thepre-eminent players in South-eastern Europe, providing top-quality products andservices to its customers. Apart from serving as a full service telecommunications group in the Greektelecoms market, OTE Group has also expanded during the last decade itsgeographical footprint throughout South East Europe, acquiring stakes in theincumbent telecommunications companies of Romania and Serbia, and establishingmobile operations in Albania, Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic ofMacedonia and Romania. At present, companies in which OTE Group has an equityinterest employ over 30,000 people in six countries, and our portfolio ofsolutions ranges from fixed and mobile telephony to Internet applications,satellite, maritime communications and consultancy services. Listed on the Athens Stock Exchange, the company trades under the ticker HTO aswell as on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker OTE. In the U.S., OTE'sAmerican Depository Receipts (ADR's) represents 1/2 ordinary share. Additional Information is also available on http://www.ote.gr. Contacts: OTE: Dimitris Tzelepis - Head of Investor Relations Tel: +30 210 611 1574, Email: dtzelepis@ote.gr Nektarios Papagiannakopoulos-Senior Financial Analyst, Investor Relations Tel: +30 210 611 7593, Email: npapagiannakopoulos@ote.gr Daria Kozanoglou - Communications Officer, Investor Relations Tel: +30 210 611 1121, Email: nkozanoglou@ote.gr Marilee Diamanti - IR Coordinator Tel: +30 210 611 5070, Email: mdiamant@ote.gr Christina Hadjigeorgiou - Financial Analyst Tel: +30 210 611 1428, Email: cchatzigeo@ote.gr Forward-looking statement Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts areforward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities LitigationReform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risksand uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially fromexpectations. The factors that could affect the Company's future financialresults are discussed more fully in the Company's filings with the U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including the Company's AnnualReport on Form 20-F for 2006 filed with the SEC on June 28, 2007. OTE assumes noobligation to update information in this release. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange