The Belarusian government is considering reoffering its controlling stake in MTS Belarus for the same US$1bn asking price in 2014, despite having failed to offload it for almost four years.
News agency BelTA cited State Property Committee chairman…
The Belarusian government is considering reoffering its controlling stake in MTS Belarus for the same US$1bn asking price in 2014, despite having failed to offload it for almost four years.
News agency BelTA cited State Property Committee chairman Georgy Kuznetsov as saying proposals to buy the 51% stake in the Minsk-based telco, a joint venture with Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), are “available”.
However, Kuznetsov is reportedly confident the government can raise US$1bn from the sale next year.
Acknowledging the US$1bn price tag has been controversial, Kuznetzov said the government arrived at the valuation in the “good years” prior to the financial crisis. Noting that the price was said to have dropped to about US$700m during the crisis, he added that the company’s earnings are now rising, meaning it may be best for the government to wait to sell.
“I think it will cost US$1bn once again in a year,” he was quoted as saying.
Kuznetzov also reportedly said the government had tried “incessantly” to sell the stake over the past four years.
The sales process for the stake was launched toward the end of 2012 and, in late June this year, communications minister Nikolai Pantelei was quoted by Russian media as saying the government was not in talks with anyone about the sale and had no intention of reducing the price.
Last November, BelTA reported that 35 organisations, including Turkish mobile operator Turkcell and Telekom Austria’s Belarus subsidiary, had indicated they would attend a pre-sale presentation in Minsk, held this March. The government said it had sent out a total 45 invitations to organisations both within and outside the CIS.
Local media quoted Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich in November 2012 as saying the government had offered the MTS Belarus stake to Kazakh companies, but they turned it down in December, saying the price was too high.
MTS, Russia’s largest mobile operator, has previously said it would be interested in buying the stake and thereby gaining full control of the company, but not at the current asking price.
The State Property Committee was not immediately available for comment.
