France Telecom: Northern mirage

A month ago France Telecom managed to spoil the announcement of strong first-quarter results with the confirmation of its interest in TeliaSonera, the Swedish telecom company. Since then its market capitalisation has shrunk by 12%. Investors, who retain sour memories of the French telecom group’s ruinous empire-building days, fear a new ill-thought acquisition. The news that France Telecom is seeking to raise E10bn of debt to help finance the deal is again sending jitters to the market, despite ...