Regulators to approve sale of Slovenia Telekom's Macedonian unit -Finance newspaper

Telekom Slovenije, D.d

23/06/2015 08:17

LJUBLJANA, June 23 (Reuters) - The sale of Telekom 
Slovenia's  TLSG.LJ  Macedonian business will be approved by 
regulators in coming days, Slovenian daily newspaper Finance 
reported on Tuesday. 
    This would remove a key obstacle to Slovenia's sale of 
state-owned Telekom Slovenia - but Finance said this deal still 
remained uncertain because prospective buyer Cinven  CINV.UL  
was rethinking its financing plans. 
    Slovenia accepted an initial bid for Telekom Slovenia - the 
country's largest telecoms operator - earlier this month from 
private equity firm Cinven. But the deal collapsed because 
Cinven said it would not pay the full offered price until the 
sale of the Macedonian unit to Telekom Austria  TELA.VI  was 
approved by the Macedonian market regulator.  ID:nL5N0YW4JV  
 ID:nL5N0Z11TH   
    The Macedonian regulator has until July 9 to announce its 
decision. 
    According to Finance, however, Cinven's purchase now depends 
upon financing conditions as the company is reconsidering its 
plan to issue a 1-billion-euro ($1.1 billion) bond to finance 
the purchase as bond yields have risen significantly in recent 
months.     
    Cinven declined to comment, while the Macedonian regulator 
was not available for an immediate comment. 
    Telekom Slovenia is the largest of 15 Slovenian companies 
that were earmarked for privatisation in 2013. So far only four 
of these have been sold.  
    ($1 = 0.8875 euros) 
     
 
 (Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by Pravin Char) 
 ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com; +386-1-5058805; Reuters 
Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: TELEKOM M&A/CINVEN