Serbia’s minister of finance and economics has reportedly confirmed the state is prepared to sell Telekom Srbija for a minimum €2.5bn to help fill its budget deficit.
Mladan Dinkic said the government will have to sell some public companies,…
Serbia’s minister of finance and economics has reportedly confirmed the state is prepared to sell Telekom Srbija for a minimum €2.5bn to help fill its budget deficit.
Mladan Dinkic said the government will have to sell some public companies, including the incumbent telecoms operator, to fill a deficit in the budget expected to total more than €2bn by the end of the year, reported business news service Balkans.com citing Serbian newspaper Blic.
The state, which owns 78.11% of Telekom Srbija, has yet to decide whether to sell the company via a tender offer or though direct negotiations, added the report.
In late August, Serbian weekly NIN reported that the government hoped to raise at least €2.3bn from the sale in 2013, and planned to commence preparations this autumn. However, Dinkic was quick to dismiss the report, saying no one had announced the sale of the company.
The government abandoned plans to sell a 51% stake in Telekom Srbija in May last year as Telekom Austria’s €1.1bn offer fell short of the minimum €1.4bn it wanted to raise.
In December last year, the government agreed to pay €380m to buy back a 20% stake in Telekom Srbjia from Greek incumbent OTE, thereby regaining control of the company.
It was suggested at the time that the government hoped the acquisition would make it easier to advance long-delayed plans to find a new investor for the company.
