Turkish mobile operator Turkcell and Telekom Austria’s Belarusian subsidiary have reportedly shown initial interest in the sale of the government’s 51% stake in its local joint venture with Russia’s MTS.
Turkcell, as well as TA owned Velcom, were…
Turkish mobile operator Turkcell and Telekom Austria’s Belarusian subsidiary have reportedly shown initial interest in the sale of the government’s 51% stake in its local joint venture with Russia’s MTS.
Turkcell, as well as TA owned Velcom, were two of 35 organisations to indicate their intention to attend a pre-sale presentation in Minsk today, the Belarusian state news agency BeLTA reported. Printing company Xerox also planned to attend the meeting, the agency s wrote, as well as Belinvestbank, Belarusbank, and BPS-Sberbank.
The government sent invitations to 45 organisations in total from inside and outside the CIS. The starting price for the planned auction is US$1bn, but a date is yet to be set.
The report quoted State Property Privatisation Committee first deputy chairman Sergei Pyatkov as saying it has been in talks with companies on the sale throughout the year, with organisations in Turkey and Kazakhstan expressing interest.
Belarus’ communications ministry announced in October that it would also provide information on the planned sale at the Belarusian Investment Forum in mid November.
MTS has previously expressed interest in taking full control of the Belarusian business, but not at the US$1bn asking price. A spokesperson for the company today said its stance remains unchanged, although he declined to comment on whether it would submit a lower offer. He said the company has no interest in the pre-sale presentation, but would not confirm whether or not it would attend.
Turkcell, Xerox and the Belarusian communications ministry were not immediately available for comment.
