Fondue farewell

20 January 2006 By John Foley Follow @johnsfoley

It’s not surprising Jens Alder has gone, after the Swiss government publicly rubbished his plans to make costly foreign acquisitions. The new boss should learn from Alder’s mistakes: manage the government relationship better, and come up with a more valuecreating strategy.

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Swisscom's chief executive, Jens Alder, stood down on Friday. He will be replaced by Carsten Schloter, currently head of the Swiss telecom operator's mobile division.

Alder's plans to buy Ireland's Eircom and Denmark's TDC were torpedoed in November when the Swiss government, which has roughly a 62% stake in Swisscom, said it would block Swisscom from pursuing "major" foreign acquisitions.

In December the government lifted the wholesale ban on foreign deals, but capped the amount Swisscom can spend over the next four years to SFr5bn (E3.2bn). Swisscom still won't be permitted to acquire foreign suppliers of basic fixedline services.

The government has said it wants to sell down its stake in Swisscom. A change of legislation would be required to cut the stake below the 50%plusoneshare level, which could take several years, according to a person familiar with the situation.

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