BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- A stolen briefcase containing a draft of Belgian telecommunications company Belgacom's second-quarter results also held information about its buyout of Vodafone's minority stake in Proximus, Belgacom Chief Executive Didier Bellens said Friday.
The company was forced to release its headline figures Monday, four days earlier than planned, after a director's briefcase was stolen from a car.
Bellens told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference that, after discussions with the market regulator, it was decided to release the headline results early, even though they had not been signed off by the board.
News of the EUR2 billion deal to buy the remaining 25% of its mobile arm Proximus, however, couldn't be announced without the deal having first been approved by the board of directors, Bellens said. The deal was announced earlier today.
The theft of the documents follows a similar incident at Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis last March when a briefcase containing a laptop which held details of the bank's full-year results was also stolen.
Fortis was also forced to release its key figures early to prevent any misuse of the information.
In neither case was it suspected the financial information was the motive for the theft.
-By Carolyn Henson, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 2 741 1484; carolyn.henson@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires "
Posted to the site on 25th August 2006
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/19010.php