By Astrid Wendlandt and Cyril Altmeyer
PARIS (Reuters) - France Telecom (FTE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) defended its track record on foreign acquisitions, one of the concerns analysts have raised over the French group's possible bid for Nordic operator TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
Chief Financial Officer Gervais Pellissier said although two of the group's five major acquisitions in the last decade had been failures, its biggest -- that of mobile and Internet operator Orange, now its main brand -- was a success.
"I think nobody can challenge the fact that Orange was fully integrated," Pellissier told the Reuters Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in Paris on Thursday.
France Telecom bought Orange from Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in 2000 for 25 billion pounds ($49 billion).
He declined to comment on whether France Telecom would make an offer for TeliaSonera, but said it would make a statement on the subject in the next weeks.
Pellissier admitted that the acquisitions of German mobile and Internet group mobilcom and British cable operator NTL had failed. Buying Spanish mobile operator Amena had turned out somewhat disappointing but had still been a good strategic move.
"Mobilcom was a big failure," Pellissier said, blaming mobilcom's management, with whom France Telecom has fought several legal battles, for misleading the company.
"NTL was more an industrial mistake, in the sense that cable is not our business ... The industrial positioning was difficult," he said.
On the subject of Amena, which France Telecom bought in 2005, Pellissier said the group had underestimated the gap between Amena's low-cost brand and its own aspirations, but had still succeeded in extracting synergies from the deal.
"It was a brand dedicated to young people for their first mobile phone prepaid," he said.
HIGH PRICE
"This growth engine, which was very effective when the market was highly growing, has been much more difficult to manage when the market has started slowing down."
In general, he said, the price of acquisitions was less important than picking the right ones.
"When something's very strategic, you have to pay a high price," he said.
"If a company produces good results afterwards, in line with the market's guidelines, who cares about the price of these acquisitions?" he said, though he cautioned: "I don't say that we should pay foolish prices." Continued...
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