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Serbia makes another attempt to sell telecommunications company

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Serbian government on Thursday initiated the privatization of its major telecommunications company Telekom Serbia, after it failed to find a buyer four years ago.

The decision to proceed with another privatization of Telekom was adopted on the government session, obliging the Privatization Agency and the Ministry of Economy to start the process announcing a public call.

According to the official data, the company which is the country's single fixed line operator and one of the three mobile operators is 58 percent owned by the state, 20 percent by the company Telekom Serbia, 15 percent by the Serbian citizens and 7 percent by the employees.

The value was estimated over the years from 2 to 3 billion euros (2.24 to 3.36 billion U.S. dollars), but the lowest price is yet to be declared along with the new public call for bidders.

It is also not known how big share in the company will be offered to potential buyers.

The previous time when the call announced in 2011 the state was willing to sell 51 percent shares of the company at the price of 1.4 billion euros, but the only bid came from Telekom Austria who offered 1.1 billion euros and got turned down, as Serbia asked more money for its profitable telecommunications company.

Telekom Austria has in the meantime voiced its interest again in January 2015, claiming in a statement through Austrian News Agency, APA, that it is only waiting for the call to be announced and participate with a new offer. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit