Serbia’s ministry of finance has extended Telekom Austria’s deadline to submit an improved bid for a 51% stake in Telekom Srbija until May 3.
The Austrian operator said the extension was given ‘due to ongoing discussions and the need to submit additional…
Serbia’s ministry of finance has extended Telekom Austria’s deadline to submit an improved bid for a 51% stake in Telekom Srbija until May 3.
The Austrian operator said the extension was given ‘due to ongoing discussions and the need to submit additional information’.
Today was the initial deadline it was given on March 29 to submit an improved offer.
Telekom Austria was the sole candidate to make an offer on the original March 21 deadline, after other parties had pulled out because they considered the minimum price of E1.4bn as too high.
But it only made a conditional bid of E800-950m for the stake and said that its offer was ‘subject to negotiations with the government about certain value creating conditions that will result in an expected enterprise value/adjusted EBITDA 2011 multiple of approximately 4.8x.
The offer also included a commitment to capital expenditures of E450m over a three year period.
In addition to the financial offer improvement, the Serbian authorities are also asking for supplementary documentation.
Telekom Austria won a dual GSM/UMTS licence in Serbia in November and Vip Mobile launched operations in July 2007. It said that in 2010 its subscriber base grew by 17.8% to 1.4 million customers, representing 13.7% market share. It competes with Telekom Srbija’s MTS and Telenor Serbia.
Serbia owns 80% of the telecoms incumbent, while Deutsche Telekom-owned OTE controls the rest.
The authorities are advised by Citigroup, while Telekom Austria is advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Raiffeisen Investment.
Meanwhile, Telekom Srbija director general Branko Radujko denied that that he had not submitted his resignation.
In a release, he said: “In mid-February this year, when I was re-appointed director general, I submitted a report on my work in the past three years, of which 2009 and 2010 have been the most successful years ever since the Company was founded. At the same time, I unambiguously and transparently notified the Company’s bodies, its shareholders and our public that I could agree to hold that term of office only until the completion of the Company share sale process, regardless of its outcome, and that I intended to pursue my professional career in the private sector.”
He responded to media reports that said he had stepped down from his position and would be replaced by Dragor Hiber, a member of Telekom Srbija’s management board.
