Versatel denied it was the source of the fake press release, which purportedly came from Versatel and Talpa Capital, an investment outfit that is also Versatel’s largest shareholder. Talpa is also the company behind the Dutch media tycoon and Big Brother creator John de Mol.
The problems began after the Dutch media received the email in the early hours of Friday morning, and broke the news at 7am. The news sent Versatel’s shares up 4% at the opening, but at midday both Versatel and Talpa announced that the press release was a fake, possibly sent by fraudsters attempting to make easy money off the inflated share price.
Shares in Versatel closed 0.5% higher on Friday at 1.93 euros ($2.32) on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
Versatel has lodged an official complaint with the Dutch Public Prosecutor Service, and is currently trying to find out who is responsible for the ploy by analyzing the IP address of the mail message.
Despite the hoax email, an acquisition of Versatel by Deutsche Telekom is not as far-fetched as it would seem because the Dutch telco has already been the subject of takeover speculation. In May, it confirmed it was in talks with the Belgian telecoms carrier Belgacom regarding a possible strategic cooperation including a possible takeover. The attraction of Versatel is its client base in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as its presence in Germany.
Versatel was created in the 1990s as a competitor to the then-state company Royal KPN NV, which is still the largest telecoms carrier in the Netherlands.
Versatel narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 2001 by striking a deal with creditors to swap debt for new shares but those days now seem well behind it. For the quarter ending March 31, it posted a narrowed net loss of 2.5m euros ($3.2m), down from a net loss of 7.2m euros ($9.3m) in the year-ago quarter. Sales meanwhile rose 31% to 177.5m euros ($230m) from 135.5m euros ($175m) a year ago. It was the carrier’s 29th consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth, and it currently has a total cash position of 259.6m euros ($336m).
