Serbia is considering whether to call off its sale of a 49% stake in incumbent Telekom Srbija, according to reports citing local news agency Beta.
A working group was reportedly due to make a recommendation to the government at noon on Tuesday, but at…
Serbia is considering whether to call off its sale of a 49% stake in incumbent Telekom Srbija, according to reports citing local news agency Beta.
A working group was reportedly due to make a recommendation to the government at noon on Tuesday, but at the time of going to press, a statement had yet to be made.
Serbian government officials were not available for comment by press time.
Despite initial interest from seven or so groups including Mexico’s America Movil, only Telekom Austria emerged as a bidder – offering some E950m in cash and E450m in capex over a three-year period. The government had said it was seeking E1.4bn.
The country’s prime minister, Mirko Cvetkovic, was quoted saying last week that the government would refuse offers under the asking price.
In a release, Telekom Austria had said that its offer ‘is subject to negotiations with the government about certain value creating conditions that will result in an expected enterprise value/adjusted EBITDA 2011 multiple of approximately 4.8x.
It is advised by Merrill Lynch and Raiffeisen Investment.
Serbia owns 80% of the telecoms incumbent, while Deutsche Telekom-owned OTE controls the rest.
