[David Haffenreffer, Cnn Anchor:] Well, another big telecom IPO begins trading in Europe today, and on the Nasdaq here in New York, Norway's Telenor raising $8 billion. Janet Guyon, of "Fortune" magazine, has more now from London. And Janet, should we be surprised that an IPO's going on in this market climate?
[Janet Guyon, London Bureau Chief, "fortune":] Well, we might be a little bit surprised, given that it's a really crummy market for an IPO, particularly telecom IPOs, but obviously, Telenor needs the money. That stock has traded down about 4 percent from the issue price, which was 42 Norwegian crowns per-share; it's now trading at about 40.2, and that price was already cut from between an initial price of 50 to 68; that was the initial speculation about what they would price this IPO at. So it's a very disappointing debut for Telenor. The stock was the issue price was already cut from an initial estimate, and it's trading down. So it does tell you that the market for telecom shares, although they sold the shares, is really not very good right now.
[Haffenreffer:] Now a lot of people are saying that, at some point, these are all going to become bargains. Could that be a sort of a prognosis for a better or more rosy future?
[Guyon:] Well, I guess there are some people right now who are saying Telenor is a bargain. So sure, I mean, if you look, you know, long-term, pretty obviously we're all going to keep making phone calls, I assume, even in Norway. And it is a big Internet economy and mobile phone economy, so sure, long-term, you know, we could say that these do look like buys. I think that what is weighing on a lot of the telecom sector over here is the high debt ratios that a lot of these companies have taken on as a result of having to pay up for those wireless licenses. It's kind of the same old story. But yes, there are some people, even now, today, in the market, saying that it looks like Telenor is a bargain at these prices, but still, there's that thing called market psychology, and the market just doesn't like these high-tech telecom shares right now.
[Haffenreffer:] Are we likely to see the trading behavior for Telenor on the Nasdaq mirror that of Oslo?
[Guyon:] I would think so, David. It would be very surprising if the U.S. investors did not take their cue from what's happening over here, that you know, it is they did make the debut here. It would be quite one would expect it would trade down in Nasdaq as well. Although, of course, there could be those people who think, gee, it's a bargain and it might trade up again. But I doubt that this would go very far above its issue price.
[Haffenreffer:] All right, Janet, thank you very much. Janet Guyon of "Fortune" magazine.