A class-action lawsuit against Deutsche Telekom opened Monday with thousands of disgruntled shareholders seeking up to $126 million from Europe's biggest telecom operator. Some 16,000 investors are seeking compensation in the case for what they claim were falsehoods regarding the company's third initial public offering tranche in June, 2000.

One of the complaints is that at the time of the offering, Bonn-based Deutsche Telekom had already started negotiations with U.S. mobile phone company Voicestream, now T-Mobile USA. German giant Telekom bought Voicestream in 2001 for about 34 billion euros ($53.4 billion) in a move highly criticized at the time. The unit has since become a key driver of growth. Another complaint is that the value of some of Telekom's real estate assets had been inflated in pamphlets sent to shareholders before the offering.

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