NEWS: France Telecom calls on Euro RSCG and DR

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 Franois Fillon, the post and telecommunications minister,

said the government wished to carry out ‘the biggest popular

shareholding operation ever seen in France’.