Slovenia should pursue privatisation - European Commission's Dombrovskis

Telekom Slovenije, D.d

05/06/2015 14:45

LJUBLJANA, June 5 (Reuters) - Pursuing privatisation would 
boost Slovenia's economy, the European Commission's deputy 
president Valdis Dombrovskis said on Friday, urging the country 
to sell all 15 firms it said it would privatise in 2013. 
    Slovenia, which narrowly avoided an international bailout 
for its banks in 2013 in the wake of the global financial 
crisis, returned to growth in 2014 but the government expects 
the expansion to slow down this year. 
    "We welcome the privatisation plans of the Slovenian 
government, including the list of 15 companies already approved 
by parliament," Dombrovskis told Reuters in an interview during 
his one-day visit to Ljubljana. 
    "We believe that the completion of these privatisations 
would provide an additional boost to Slovenia's economy and also 
show Slovenia as an attractive place for foreign investment," he 
added. 
    There is growing uncertainty over whether the largest 
company on the privatisation list, Telekom Slovenia  TLSG.LJ , 
will be sold to sole bidder investment firm Cinven  CINV.UL . 
    So far only four out of 15 firms that were earmarked for 
privatisation have been sold. 
    Late on Thursday state-owned investment firm SDH, which is 
coordinating the privatisation, said it would ask the government 
to decide whether Telekom should be sold.  ID:nL5N0YQ4CQ  
    While Prime Minister Miro Cerar's Party of Modern Centre 
supports the sale, its junior coalition partner the centre-left 
Social Democrats party is against it. 
    The Finance Ministry was unable to say on Friday when the 
government will take the decision on Telekom sale, but Cinven 
said earlier this week that its offer will expire on June 10. 
 ID:nL5N0YP1NZ  
    Sources close to the sale process say Cinven is offering up 
to 130 euros per share for Telekom, which would value the 
company at 850 million euros. Telekom closed 2 percent lower on 
Friday at 99 euros, while the blue-chip SBI lost 0.44 percent. 
    Slovenia has been reluctant to sell its major companies over 
the past decades, so the government still controls about 50 
percent of the economy and as much as 60 percent of the banking 
sector. 
    The government expects the economy to expand by 2.4 percent 
this year versus growth of 2.6 percent in 2014, mainly on 
account of an expected smaller increase in exports. 
 
 (Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by Hugh Lawson) 
 ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com; +386-1-5058805; Reuters 
Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SLOVENIA PRIVATISATION/