19 Shareholders’ equity

Issued capital

As of December 31, 2020, the share capital of Deutsche Telekom totaled EUR 12,189 million. The share capital is divided into 4,761,458,596 no par value registered shares.

Treasury shares. The amount of issued capital assigned to treasury shares was approximately EUR 46 million at December 31, 2020. This equates to 0.4 % of share capital. 18,002,303 treasury shares were held at December 31, 2020. The shareholders’ meeting resolved on May 25, 2016 to authorize the Board of Management to purchase shares in the Company by May 24, 2021, with the amount of share capital accounted for by these shares totaling up to EUR 1,179,302,878.72, provided the shares to be purchased on the basis of this authorization in conjunction with the other shares of the Company that the Company has already purchased and still possesses or are to be assigned to it under § 71d and § 71e AktG do not at any time account for more than 10 % of the Company’s share capital. Moreover, the requirements under § 71 (2) sentences 2 and 3 AktG must be complied with. Shares shall not be purchased for the purpose of trading in treasury shares. This authorization may be exercised in full or in part. The purchase can be carried out in partial tranches spread over various purchase dates within the authorization period until the maximum purchase volume is reached. Dependent Group companies of Deutsche Telekom AG within the meaning of § 17 AktG or third parties acting for the account of Deutsche Telekom AG or for the account of dependent Group companies of Deutsche Telekom AG within the meaning of § 17 AktG are also entitled to purchase the shares. The shares are purchased through the stock exchange in adherence to the principle of equal treatment (§ 53a AktG). Shares can instead also be purchased by means of a public purchase or share exchange offer addressed to all shareholders, which, subject to a subsequently approved exclusion of the right to offer shares, must also comply with the principle of equal treatment.

The shares may be used for one or several of the purposes permitted by the authorization granted by the shareholders’ meeting on May 25, 2016 under item 6 on the agenda. The shares may also be used for purposes involving an exclusion of subscription rights. They may also be sold on the stock market or by way of an offer to all shareholders, or withdrawn. The shares may also be used to fulfill the rights of Board of Management members to receive shares in Deutsche Telekom AG, which the Supervisory Board has granted to these members as part of the arrangements governing the compensation of the Board of Management, on the basis of a decision by the Supervisory Board to this effect.

Under the resolution of the shareholders’ meeting on May 25, 2016, the Board of Management is also authorized to acquire the shares through the use of equity derivatives.

On the basis of the authorization by the shareholders’ meeting on May 25, 2016 described above and corresponding authorizations by the shareholders’ meeting on May 12, 2011 and May 24, 2012, 110 thousand shares were acquired in June 2011, 206 thousand shares in September 2011, and 268 thousand shares in January 2013. The total volumes amounted to EUR 2,762 thousand in the 2011 financial year, and EUR 2,394 thousand in the 2013 financial year (excluding transaction costs). This increased the number of treasury shares by 316 thousand and 268 thousand, respectively. Further, 90 thousand shares and 860 thousand shares were acquired in September and October 2015, respectively, for an aggregate amount of EUR 14,787 thousand (excluding transaction costs); these acquisitions increased the number of treasury shares by 950 thousand.

No treasury shares were acquired in the reporting period.

As part of the Share Matching Plan, a total of 2 thousand treasury shares were transferred free of charge to the custody accounts of eligible participants in 2012 and 2013, respectively. A further 90 thousand treasury shares were transferred free of charge in the 2014 financial year. An additional 140 thousand treasury shares were transferred in 2015. In the 2016 financial year, 232 thousand treasury shares were transferred, 300 thousand treasury shares were transferred in the 2017 financial year, and 312 thousand in the 2018 financial year. In the 2019 financial year, 448 thousand treasury shares were transferred to the custody accounts of eligible participants. Transfers of treasury shares to the custody accounts of employees of Deutsche Telekom AG are free of charge. In cases where treasury shares are transferred to the custody accounts of employees of other Group companies, the costs have been transferred at fair value to the respective Group company since the 2016 financial year.

In all months of the reporting year with the exception of March and August, treasury shares (523 thousand in total) were reallocated and transferred to the custody accounts of eligible participants of the Share Matching Plan. As of December 31, 2020, disposals of treasury shares resulting from the transfers in the reporting period accounted for 0.01 %, or EUR 1,338 thousand, of share capital. Gains on disposal arising from transfers of treasury shares amounted to EUR 7,426 thousand. Transfers of treasury shares increased retained earnings by EUR 36 thousand and capital reserves by EUR 6,052 thousand. In the reporting year, 266 thousand treasury shares with a fair value of EUR 3,885 thousand were billed to other Group companies.

As part of the acquisition of VoiceStream Wireless Corp., Bellevue, and Powertel, Inc., Bellevue, in 2001, Deutsche Telekom AG issued new shares from authorized capital to a trustee, for the benefit of holders of warrants, options, and conversion rights, among others. These options or conversion rights expired in full in the 2013 financial year. As a result, the trustee no longer had any obligation to fulfill any claims in accordance with the purpose of the deposit. The trust relationship was terminated at the start of 2016 and the deposited shares were transferred free of charge to a custody account of Deutsche Telekom AG. The previously deposited shares are accounted for in the same way as treasury shares in accordance with § 272 (1a) HGB. On the basis of authorization by the shareholders’ meeting on May 25, 2016, the treasury shares acquired free of charge may be used for the same purposes as the treasury shares acquired for a consideration. In the 2019 financial year, 61 thousand previously deposited shares were reallocated for issue to eligible participants of the Share Matching Plan. In the reporting year, 558 thousand shares were reallocated.

Voting rights. Each share entitles the holder to one vote. These voting rights are restricted, however, in relation to treasury shares (at December 31, 2020: around 18 million in total).

Authorized capital and contingent capital. Authorized capital and contingent capital comprised the following components as of December 31, 2020:

Transactions with owners

The amounts recognized in shareholders’ equity as transactions with owners and as changes in the composition of the Group mainly relate to the business combination of T‑Mobile US with Sprint, consummated on April 1, 2020.

For further information, please refer to the section “Summary of accounting policies – Changes in the composition of the Group and other transactions.”

Non-controlling interests: total other comprehensive income

Total other comprehensive income of non-controlling interests primarily comprises remeasurement effects as part of the acquisition of the OTE group totaling EUR 0.4 billion (December 31, 2019: EUR 0.4 billion), as well as offsetting currency translation effects of EUR 3.2 billion (December 31, 2019: EUR 0.1 billion), and remeasurement losses recognized directly in equity in connection with forward-payer swaps concluded for borrowings at T‑Mobile US, which were terminated prematurely in April 2020 .