VIENNA: Investor Ronny Pecik has secured options via several companies to buy about 5.5 percent of Telekom Austria, the company said on Monday. The announcement comes two weeks after media reports said Egypt's Orascom Telecom was preparing a hostile takeover using Pecik as a cover. Pecik bought "exercisable at any time" call options on Friday via his private RPR foundation. The purchase will be completed via the foundation's subsidiaries Marathon and Marathon Two Beteiligungs GmbH, two companies also run by Pecik, a spokesman for the investor said. Marathon Two Beteiligungs GmbH has the option, until June 18 next year, to obtain 5.4 percent of Telekom Austria voting rights. Including stakes owned by other companies, Pecik could own about 5.485 percent of Telekom shares. Telekom Austria shares are up more than 11 percent so far this month. The shares were up 1.6 percent at 8.38 euros by 1255 GMT, outperforming a flat European telecoms index. Citing unnamed sources, daily Wirtschaftsblatt reported earlier this month Telekom Austria was preparing its defenses against a possible hostile takeover bid and that it would hire Merrill Lynch for advice. The paper said Telekom Austria could widen its share buyback program or look for a "white knight" investor to fend off the unwanted advances, with Spain's Telefonica, Russia's VimpelCom, Norway's Telenor and Turkey's Turkcell seen as likely candidates. Samih Sawiris, the brother of Orascom Telecom owner Naguib Sawiris, told Swiss newspaper Sonntagszeitung his brother was looking for acquisitions in Switzerland and Austria. "My brother knows the telecom business very well and has earned a lot of money with it. My brother is looking to expand in Switzerland and Austria," he was quoted as saying this weekend.
