Ameritech Will Buy $3.2-Billion Stake in Denmark Telephone Carrier

Ameritech Corp., making one of the biggest moves by a Baby Bell into European telecommunications, said Monday that it will buy a third of Denmark’s telephone carrier for $3.2 billion.

In a two-step transaction, Ameritech would initially take a 34% stake in Tele Danmark and eventually boost that figure to 42%. The Chicago-based Baby Bell also would get the right to nominate six of the 12 Tele Danmark directors, including its chairman.

“Denmark is the gateway to Northern Europe, and Tele Danmark has the management expertise we need to create a platform for expansion in the European market,” said Richard C. Notebaert, Ameritech’s chairman and chief executive.

The move comes amid a scramble among telecommunications companies as world markets are deregulated and American long-distance and local telephone providers seek to buy their way into each other’s businesses.

Ameritech said its investment in Tele Danmark will add about 2 cents a share to earnings in 1998.

The company’s stock fell $2.31 to close at $64.94 on the New York Stock Exchange amid the broad market sell-off.