Serbian securities commission president Zoran Cirovic has said Telekom Srbija will be listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange shortly, although he stressed that the ultimate decision rests with the state.
The state, which owns 78.11% of Telekom Srbjia,…
Serbian securities commission president Zoran Cirovic has said Telekom Srbija will be listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange shortly, although he stressed that the ultimate decision rests with the state.
The state, which owns 78.11% of Telekom Srbjia, will determine the right time to list the shares, Cirovac told reporters at a roundtable on institutional demand for government securities at the Economics Institute in Belgrade, local media reported.
He noted that the free shares in the telco distributed in April are yet to be included on the exchange.
The minister of finance and economics, Mladan Dinkic, was quoted in late September as saying the state is prepared to sell Telekom Srbija for a minimum €2.5bn to help fill its budget deficit. According to reports at the time, the state had not yet decided whether to sell the company via tender offer or direct negotiations.
An earlier report in Serbian weekly NIN citing an unidentified government official said the state planned to sell the telco in 2013 and that preparations may delay the planned listing.
The state 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.
