Telekom Austria CEO Ametsreiter To Leave -- Update

(Adds spokesman's comments from the second paragraph.)

By Natascha Divac

The chief executive of Telekom Austria AG (TKAGY) unexpectedly resigned Monday, requesting to terminate his contract with effect from July 31 to pursue an opportunity outside the company, the company said.

Telekom Austria's supervisory board will address Hannes Amestreiter's departure at its meeting in July. It didn't name a replacement Monday because his request took the company by surprise, a spokesman said.

Mr. Ametsreiter, whose contract as CEO would have run until the end of 2016, joined the mobile business of Telekom Austria almost two decades ago and has held numerous management positions. He has been CEO since April 2009.

The spokesman denied Mr. Ametsreiter is leaving the company due to internal issues, despite shareholder changes over the past few years. Rather, his departure was "an active decision" motivated by "the possibility of change."

Telekom Austria is majority-owned by Mexican telecommunications giant America Movil SAB (AMX), which last year raised its stake in the company to just under 60% of all the shares. America Movil also has eight of the 10 seats on the company's supervisory board. Telekom Austria's second-largest shareholder is the Austrian state holding company, which last year signed an agreement with America Movil giving the Mexican company operational control.

"On behalf of the Supervisory Board I would like to express our thanks to Hannes Ametsreiter for running the business through quite challenging times, also in the transition phase of Telekom Austria Group becoming an affiliate of America Movíl," said Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, chairman of the supervisory board.

Mr Ametsreiter couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

--Nicole Lundeen contributed to this article.

Write to Natascha Divac at [e-mail]

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