T-Mobile IPO may be delayed

February 22, 2002 Posted: 1657 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- Deutsche Telekom's shares fell on Friday after its chief executive warned that the company may delay the flotation of its mobile phone unit.

The initial public offering of T-Mobile, which is expected to raise 10 billion ($8.69 billion), is key to helping the German telecom giant meet its commitment to reduce its 65 billion to 50 billion by the end of this year.

Credit rating agencies said on Friday they would be watching closely to see if Deutsche Telekom could it meet its debt reduction targets, which has been factored into their ratings of the company.

"We can afford to do the flotation when the time is right," Chief Executive Ron Sommer told a new conference in Berlin.

Deutsche Telekom shares were down 4.4 percent to 15.19 in late trading on Friday in Frankfurt.

Sommer would not be pinned down on the timing of the IPO, although the company has previously said a listing would only be possible in June or November.

"We prepare thoroughly to be able to float on either date, but we cannot rule out that it will not happen on those dates," Sommer said.

"We have still time to make that decision, but this is not a matter of life and death anyway."

Sommer has maintained the timing of the flotation -- which was already been delayed once last year -- would depend on the economic factors and market sentiment, in order to get a good value for T-Mobile.

Meanwhile, Sommer said he was not hopeful that the planned 5.5 billion sale of Deutsche Telekom's cable assets to U.S. media group Liberty Media – which has faced roadblock from German regulators – would go through.

The Liberty deal was seen as another important part of Telekom's plans to reduce its debt.

-- Reuters contributed to this report