Press Releases

RHI has option to increase its participating interest in Connect Austria

Agreement with German GSM partner Viag AG currently limits RHI commitment to 50 million AS

RHI AG, which, through RHI Telekom GmbH, holds a 20.1 percent interest in the Connect Austria mobile telephone consortium, has the option to increase its participating interest in Connect Austria over the next seven years. On Friday, Austrian Secretary of Transportation and Communications Caspar Einem awarded Connect Austria the country4s third mobile radiotelephone service license for 2.3 billion AS.
RHI AG announced today, Monday, that this is part of the financing agreement with the German Connect partner Viag AG, which holds a 20 percent interest in the GSM consortium via Viag-Connect GmbH. Moreover, RHI AG4s financial commitment to Connect is currently limited to 50 billion, since financing for RHI Telekom was provided largely by Viag.
Viag and RHI have cooperated closely since the Didier majority was assigned to RHI in December 1994, making RHI the world4s largest vendor of refractory products. Since then, Viag has also held an approx. 11 percent interest in RHI AG, which is a listed company.
The shareholder structure of Connect Austria GmbH was last reshaped by the admission of Tele Danmark and Orange plc.. Accordingly, share ownership of Connect Austria GmbH is divided as follows: RHI Telekom GmbH, 20.1 percent; Viag Connect GmbH, 20 percent; Constantia Privatbank AG 10 percent, Telenor and Orange, 17.45 percent each; Tele Danmark, 15 percent. Lead management remains in the hands of RHI AG, which, together with Viag AG, holds the shares belonging to RHI Telekom GmbH.