The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic has rejected the appeal presented by Telefónica with which it intended to evade the payment of 35 million euros plus interest to two shareholders of the former Cesky Telecom for the acquisition of the Czech operator in 2005, which raises the final amount to 102 million euros.
Czech justice has confirmed that it is not possible to present new appeals against the ruling of the Supreme Court of the country, which withdrew the reason from the Spanish company after a previous judicial instance concluded that it should not compensate the shareholders, who argued that the price per share paid in the purchase operation was below the appropriate level.
The origin of the litigation dates back to 2005, when Telefónica acquired a majority stake in Cesky Telecom during the privatization process of the operator, paying the Czech state 502 Czech crowns (20.78 euros) per share. Later, the Government of the Czech Republic forced the Spanish company to launch a takeover bid to control 100% of the capital and, in this second phase, the shares were purchased at 456 Czech crowns (18.88 euros).
The minority shareholders Lexburg and Venten, firms of Cypriot origin linked to investor Pavel Tykac, took the matter to court to demand financial compensation for the reduction applied to the price of the shares in that second operation.
"Since the Constitutional Court found no violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms constitutionally guaranteed to the plaintiff, it rejected her constitutional claim outside the oral hearing without the presence of the participants," states the high Czech court in a text consulted by Europa Press.
In its appeal, Telefónica has also questioned the choice of the expert appointed to review the file, whom it accused of lack of impartiality, and has denounced the retroactive application of certain regulations, despite the fact that, according to the company, all current legal requirements were met at the time of the operation.
The Spanish multinational later left the Czech market and sold its subsidiary O2 Czech Republic to the investment group PPF. However, it maintained the legal responsibility arising from the operation carried out in 2005, as "Cinco Días" has reported.