Frankfurt - Proceedings began in a Frankfurt court Monday in which thousands of shareholders are claiming compensation from Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest telecoms provider, regarding the sale of shares to the value of billions of euros in 2000.

Shareholders allege the former state monopoly did not provide accurate information on its assets when issuing the third tranche of shares, when it sold 200 million shares at a price of 66.50 euros, bringing in some 13 billion euros (20 billion dollars).

More than 16,000 shareholders have brought proceedings in the largest case of its kind ever seen in Germany.

Deutsche Telekom settled similar claims in the United States out of court, paying out 120 million dollars three years ago.

The first shares were issued in 1996 at a price of 14.57 euros, garnering around 10 billion euros for the company. A second tranche saw 280 million shares sold for a total of
11 billion euros in June 1999.

Deutsche Telekom shareholders initially saw the price soar to above 100 euros a share in March 2000, before declining as low as 8.22 euros. The share was trading at around 11.30 on Monday. (dpa)