Eight companies have pre-qualified to participate in the privatisation of incumbent Telekom Srbija, according to a statement by Rasim Ljacic, minister of trade, tourism and telecommunications. Working alongside adviser Lazard, the government will…
Eight companies have pre-qualified to participate in the privatisation of incumbent Telekom Srbija, according to a statement by Rasim Ljacic, minister of trade, tourism and telecommunications.
Working alongside adviser Lazard, the government will by 17 August draw up a shortlist of bidders for the 58.1% stake. Selected players will then have 14 days to buy the documentation and review the telco’s figures, he added.
The government, declared Prime Minister Aleksander Vucic, expects a “significantly higher” offer than the €1.1bn Telekom Austria bid for 51% of the company in 2011.
“We expect a significantly higher offer,” Vucic told journalists. “If we don’t get that we will not sell.”
Politician Sasa Radulovic, a former finance minister, meanwhile continued his campaign in the local press to oppose the privatisation. In an interview on TV channel N1, he argued that instead of selling, the incumbent needs to professionalise its [largely civil servant] staff, “restore order” and list on the local stock exchange after separating its infrastructure assets. The company should furthermore retain some state ownership, he said.
In his own statement, the former minister said 14 firms had submitted non-binding offers: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Advent International, Apollo Global Management, BC Partners, Colbeck Capital Management, CVC Capital Partners, Deutsche Telekom, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Bulgarian incumbent Vivacom, Mid Europa Partners, Russia’s MTS, Novator Partners, Telekom Slovenije and Turkcell.
Spokespeople for the government and alleged bidders were not immediately available for comment.
The telco is 58.11% state-owned, with a further 20% held by the company as treasury stock, and the remainder by Serbian citizens and the telco’s current and former employees.
The privatisation is part of a wider initiative to sell off state assets under Serbia’s most recent budget balancing agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
