Euro RSCG Finances and Dewe Rogerson have clinched the contract to
promote the sell-off of France’s state-owned telecommunications company,
France Telecom.
Announced last week, the appointments follow a competitive pitch held in
Paris on 26 October (PR Week, 25 October). Five French agencies and
their UK partners made presentations to a selection panel composed of
executives from France Telecom and the Ministry of Economics and
Finance. They were: Gavin Anderson, Media Finance, CPM et Compagnie and
Financial Dynamics, IS Conseil and Ludgate and Euro RSCG Finances with
Dewe Rogerson.
The account is a significant win for Dewe Rogerson, which has previously
struggled to gain a foothold in the French financial PR market. The
agency is already handling the privatisation of German telephone
operator Deutsche Telekom.
Although no one at the agency was available for comment, Dewe Rogerson
will probably promote the privatisation among international investors,
while Euro RSCG Finances will focus on the French market.
Scheduled for April 1997, the first tranche of France Telecom’s share
offering will be for around 20 per cent of its capital and is expected
to raise FFr30 billion (pounds 3.6 billion). The government, which will
retain a 51 per cent stake in the company, is particularly keen to
attract ordinary investors.
Last month Franois Fillon, the post and telecommunications minister,
said the government wished to carry out ‘the biggest popular
shareholding operation ever seen in France’.
