The Slovenian government has reportedly received nine bids for its controlling stake in Telekom Slovenije, with Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Deutsche Telekom (DT) and private equity firms among the suitors.
Interested PE firms…
The Slovenian government has reportedly received nine bids for its controlling stake in Telekom Slovenije, with Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Deutsche Telekom (DT) and private equity firms among the suitors.
Interested PE firms include CVC, Apax, Providence and Cinven, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.
State-controlled fund SOD, coordinating the sale, said in a statement that it had received indicative offers from “a number of leading strategic and financial investors” by the 2 June deadline, without naming them.
The fund expects to name the bidders selected to progress to the next round of the sales process by the end of the week and the next phase to begin shortly afterwards.
The state, which controls 72.38% of shares in the incumbent, first called for expressions of interest in April. Up to 75.58% of shares could be sold as additional shareholders have agreed to exit the company in the sale process. Citigroup is advising the sellers, while DT, which has made significant acquisitions in Eastern Europe recently, is said to have hired JP Morgan and Barclays to advise it on a bid.
Moody’s analyst Ivan Palacios said it is difficult to say at this stage who is likely to emerge the successful buyer, noting that for large, strategic buyers Telekom Slovenije is a relatively small target.
“Therefore, securing this asset is less strategic for them than for private equity firms but, if they succeed, they are more likely to fund the deal more easily and on cheaper terms than private equity firms.”
Telekom Slovenije has a market capitalisation on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange of €947.6m, valuing a 75.58% stake at €716.2m. Palacios noted that comparable companies in the European telecoms sector are currently trading at about 6.0x EBITDA.
Last July, MTS founder Vladimir Evtushenkov, also the main shareholder and chairman of the operator’s majority shareholder Sistema, said he was eyeing acquisition opportunities in several markets internationally.
