Telekom Serbia privatization postponed

Jan 17, 2011, 13:29 GMT

Belgrade - Serbia on Monday again postponed the privatisation of its telecommunications company, saying it wanted to give potential buyers more time to prepare bids.

Bidders now have until March 21 to submit offers for a 51-per-cent stake in Telekom Serbia, the Finance Ministry said.

So far Deutsche Telekom, France Telekom, Telekom Austria, America Movil and Russian Weather Investments have acquired tender documents.

Belgrade expects to generate at least 1.4 billion euros (1.8 billion dollars) from the sale. The government currently holds 80 per cent of Telekom capital and the Greek telecommunications group OTE the remaining stake.

Cash-strapped, Serbia decided to sell Telekom on October 15. The deadline for the purchase of the tender documentation was postponed in November, allowing America Movil to join the bidding.

Telekom was privatized once before, by the government of former president Slobodan Milosevic in 1997. However, Italy sold the 29-per- cent stake it bought in a scandal-marred deal back to Serbia in 2002.

Telekom reported a profit of 13 billion dinars (165 million dollars) in 2009. It is the leading local mobile phone and internet provider. A year ago, the company lost its monopoly on the fixed-line market.

Telekom Serbia has subsidiaries in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mtel and Telekom Srpske.

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