Businessman Zoltan Teszari, 38, holds the controlling interests in telecom operator RCS&RDS, 43.01%, with the shares owned either directly or indirectly through two other companies (RCS Management and Cable Communications Systems N.V.).
Information was first made public in the issue prospectus prepared by RCS&RDS for floatation on the London Stock Exchange, an operation that was cancelled at the end of November last year because of unfavourable conditions on the international financial markets.
The operator had planned to raise 500 million dollars (354 million euros) from the sale of a stake accounting for 15% of its capital, which would therefore have put the value of the operator at 2.5 billion euros.
Prior to these data, the only official information available was that Teszari held 2.03% directly in RCS&RDS. Zoltan Teszari is one of the lowest-profile businessmen in Romania. He has never given interviews and avoids public appearances. To avoid having his photo taken, he attends RCS&RDS shareholder meetings via a videoconferencing system.
RCS&RDS also has a low-profile communication strategy, as the officials of the operator only appear in public a few times a year - usually during the annual event organised by the Cable Operators Association and during the Communications Day seminar organised as part of the CERF IT&C fair.
RCS&RDS' public figure is Alexandru Oprea, the general manager of the company, who usually represents the operator at such events.
According to the data in the issue prospectus, after Quadrant and EPIC funds, which own 20.23% and 5.48% in RCS&RDS, the biggest shareholders of the operator are Sfetozar Bugarski (4.41%), Nicusor Dorel Sebastian (4.26%) and Ioan Bendei (3.14%).
Three more people that are part of the RCS&RDS management own small interests of 1% in the company each, while a number of other shareholders yet unmentioned, own almost 18% in the telecom operator. The data about shareholders are those valid on June 30, 2007. RCS&RDS, one of the largest telecom operators in Romania, which also operates in five other countries in the region, is the leader of the local satellite TV and Internet services and vies for the top spot on the cable TV service market with UPC. RCS&RDS is also the second-largest player on the fixed telephony market, with more than 1 million clients.
Other than Romania, RCS&RDS operates in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Serbia.
According to the "100 most valuable companies in Romania" yearbook put together by ZF and Capital Partners last year, RCS&RDS' market value stood at 1.65 billion euros (2.4 billion dollars), based on the financial indicators reported for 2006.
According to information on the market, investment bank Morgan Stanley was in talks to buy 5% in RCS&RDS for 82 million euros several months ago. This would have put the value of the operator at 1.6 billion euros.
Alexandru Oprea, RCS&RDS general manager and owner of 0.96% in the company denied the information on the market. "This information is not real," he told ZF.
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