Cinven says purchase of Telekom Slovenia not yet agreed

Telekom Slovenije, D.d

11/06/2015 07:31

LJUBLJANA, June 11 (Reuters) - UK investment fund Cinven 
 CINV.UL  said on Thursday a deal to purchase Slovenia's largest 
telecoms operator Telekom Slovenia  TLSG.LJ  had not been 
completed because Slovenian state firm SDH had not accepted an 
unspecified amendment to Cinven's bid. 
    SDH, which coordinates privatisations in the country, had on 
Wednesday accepted Cinven's initial bid for Telekom, filed on 
May 20, but rejected an amendment to the offer that was filed 
later, saying the sale contract with Cinven therefore still had 
to be agreed.  ID:nL5N0YW4JV  
    "Cinven considers the amendment an integral part of the 
offer, without which Cinven would not be able to proceed towards 
completing this transaction," Cinven said in a statement. 
    Neither side has disclosed the nature of the amendment but 
local media reported it would allow Cinven to retain a part of 
the purchase price until local regulators approve two other 
deals: Telekom's purchase of Slovenian mobile phone operator 
Debitel and Telekom's sale of its Macedonian unit. 
    According to sources, Cinven is offering to pay between 110 
and 130 euros per Telekom share, depending upon Telekom's 
performance and the outcome of litigation against Telekom. That 
would value the whole of Telekom at between 719 million euros  
($812 million) and 850 million. 
    Cinven is bidding for 72.75 percent of Telekom but would 
later have to purchase the rest of the shares at the same price, 
as required by Slovenian legislation. 
    Telekom is the largest of 15 companies earmarked for 
privatisation in 2013. So far four of those companies have been 
sold.  
($1 = 0.8854 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by David Holmes) 
 ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com; +386-1-5058805; Reuters 
Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SLOVENIA TELEKOM/