Ad Scheepbouwer expects more European governments to sell remaining telco stakes within a few years. After a remarkable turnaround, telecom firm Royal KPN NV returned billions to shareholders under the helm of chief executive Ad Scheepbouwer, but couldn’t expand its business in Europe.

Scheepbouwer, the 66 year old Dutchman who will end his 10 year reign at the top of the Dutch firm Wednesday, has high hopes that opportunities for expansion will return within a few years as European countries sell their remaining stakes in telecommunication firms to cut debt.

“These governments are without money and it’s much easier to sell assets than to raise taxes or lower subsidies,” he told Dow Jones Newswires in his office at the company’s headquarters in The Hague.

Scheepbouwer also expects the largest European telecom operators to reorganize and review their portfolio of assets.

“They will start to rationalize. This will cause a certain consolidation, because they will have to start managing their assets lean and mean,” Scheepbouwer said, while smaller companies like Belgacom SA and Telekom Austria AG will seek merger and acquisitions to better compete. Before Scheepbouwer took charge, KPN held merger talks with Belgacom and while Scheepbouwer still thinks a merger makes sense, it “isn’t a topic right now.”

bron:totaltele