Greek incumbent Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) reportedly expects to raise almost €1bn from the sale of its Bulgarian mobile and domestic satellite units in the coming months.
Greek financial publication Euro2day reported that OTE…
Greek incumbent Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) reportedly expects to raise almost €1bn from the sale of its Bulgarian mobile and domestic satellite units in the coming months.
Greek financial publication Euro2day reported that OTE hopes Globul in Bulgaria will sell for about €800m and Hellas Sat for about €150m, helping it to refinance debt set to mature within the next two years.
OTE, in which Germany’s Deutsche Telekom has a 40% stake, said in late June that it intended to launch formal sales processes for Globul and electronic goods supplier Germanos Telecom Bulgaria. Bulgarian reports at the time said the telco had hired Citigroup to handle the Globul sale and named Turkish mobile operator Turkcell, Vodafone and France Telecom’s Orange as potential buyers.
OTE has nearly €5bn in debt, of which €3.4bn is set to mature before the end of 2014. Because of tight lending conditions in Greece and wider Europe the telco has opted to sell assets to raise the much-needed financing.
In late 2011, OTE sold a 20% stake in Telekom Srbija back to the state-owned company for €380m. In January, the company stated it may also consider selling Hellas Sat.
OTE was not immediately available for comment.
