Slovenia’s outgoing government has lifted its suspension on the privatisation of 15 state-owned companies, including Telekom Slovenije.
Following a proposal from the Slovenian Sovereign Holding, which is managing the sale of state assets, Prime…
Slovenia’s outgoing government has lifted its suspension on the privatisation of 15 state-owned companies, including Telekom Slovenije.
Following a proposal from the Slovenian Sovereign Holding, which is managing the sale of state assets, Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek’s cabinet revoked a decision made early this month to halt all privatisation processes, according to a ministry of finance statement.
The government had planned to privatise Telekom Slovenije by the end of the year, and hired Citi as an adviser, but suspended the process pending the formation of the new government. Political newcomer Miro Cerar, whose centre-left SMC party won the general election on 13 July, has said he will review the planned sales of strategically-important assets, such as the incumbent telco. While he has spoken out against privatisations, Cerar said processes deemed too late to cancel will go ahead. Cerar is currently holding coalition talks ahead of the formation of a new cabinet.
The government reportedly received numerous bids for Telekom Slovenije from both strategic and financial players. The strategic bidders included Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, Russia’s MTS and Turkey’s Turkcell, but the highest offers came from private equity firms Apax, Bain Capital and Providence, local publication finance.si reported early this month with reference to unnamed sources.
The state controls 72.38% of shares in Telekom Slovenije, which has a market capitalisation on the Ljubljana bourse of €889.48m (US$1.19bn).
Slovenia’s privatisation programme forms part of its plan to stabilise its economy and finances after narrowly avoiding having to seek an international bailout last year.
