Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 July 2019
286. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount received from the privatisation of Telecom Éireann including all subsidiaries in 1999; the costs incurred in the privatisation; the net proceeds from same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28317/19]
View answerWhile files from the then Department of Public Enterprise for the period in question will have been archived, details regarding this matter were presented at a meeting of then Public Accounts Committee on 7 December 2000 in respect of the 1999 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts 1999 for Vote 32. These details include the following: in 1996 20% of Telecom Éireann’s shares were sold as part of a strategic alliance with Comsource an entity owned by KPN Telecom BV of the Netherlands (60%) and Telia AB of Sweden (40%). An additional 15% of shares were acquired by this entity along with the transfer of 14.9% of the shares to employees before the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Telecom Éireann shares in 1999. These transactions yielded over IE£ 1.5 billion (€1.9 billion) to the State from the sale of shares to Comsource. The State received an additional IE£190 million (€241.25 million) from the share allocation to staff. In 1999 The State received IE £3.3 billion (€4.19 billion) in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) for Telecom Éireann.
In total, the Exchequer received IE£5 billion for the total sale of Telecom Éireann shares, and the costs of the flotation were IE£76.9 million (€97.64 million).
