The Greek government has reportedly not asked the EU to directly support its planned sales of stakes in a raft of companies that include local operator OTE.
Europe’s role in Greece’s plan to raise E50bn by selling off a variety of public assets will be…
The Greek government has reportedly not asked the EU to directly support its planned sales of stakes in a raft of companies that include local operator OTE.
Europe’s role in Greece’s plan to raise E50bn by selling off a variety of public assets will be limited to an advisory one, according to reports citing Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou.
However, bankers working on the sell-offs have reportedly warned that the country has a better chance of success if Europe and the IMF were directly involved.
The Greek state reportedly plans to sell down its 20% stake in OTE by the end of Q2 2011. It has announced intentions to exercise a put option with German incumbent Deutsche Telekom (DT) for 10%, transfer 4% to the country’s pension fund, and may also look to sell the remaining 6%.
Reports earlier in May suggested that DT, which already holds a 30% stake in OTE, was trying to stall its obligatory acquisition of a further 10%. The Financial Times Deutschland reported that DT was looking for more leeway to carry out a reorganisation of OTE’s fixed-line operations if it were to acquire the government stake.
DT originally acquired a stake of 25% plus one share in OTE in May 2008. In this deal, it also granted the Greek government two put options to sell further stakes in the company.
Under the first option, the Greek state sold a 5% stake to DT earlier this year.
A DT spokeswoman has confirmed to TelecomFinance that if the Greeks decide to exercise the 10% put option, DT will have to acquire it. She added that if the Greek government decides to sell additional shares, DT had been granted a pre-emptive right with respect to those.
