Slovenia Telekom shares drop on uncertainty over sale

Telekom Slovenije, D.d

14/04/2015 12:52

By Marja Novak 
    LJUBLJANA, April 14 (Reuters) - Shares in Slovenia's largest 
telecoms operator, Telekom Slovenia  TLSG.LJ , dropped almost 7 
percent on Tuesday on speculation the sale of the government's 
majority stake may not go ahead. 
    On Monday, Slovenia's state investment fund SDH, which is 
coordinating the sale, said it had received only one binding bid 
for the firm.  ID:nL5N0XA3KS  
    By 1100 GMT on Tuesday, Telekom shares were down 6.9 percent 
at 119.2 euros, while the blue-chip SBI index  .SBITOP  stood 
0.72 percent firmer. 
    Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that 
investment fund Cinven  CINV.UL  offered around 110 euros per 
Telekom share, valuing the whole company at about 719 million 
euros.  
    Analysts believe the government, which controls 72.75 
percent of Telekom, had expected to achieve a valuation of 
around one billion euros. 
    Cinven and SDH have declined to comment. 
    "The government has indicated that it will not sell at any 
price so there is a chance that it will not go through with the 
sale unless the offer is improved, if it is indeed below 120 
euros per share as reported by the media," said Saso Stanovnik, 
chief economist of investment firm Alta Invest. 
    Slovenia tried to sell Telekom in 2008 but cancelled the 
process in the last stage, saying the bids were too low. 
    Telekom is the largest of 15 firms earmarked for 
privatisation in 2013. So far only three have been sold. 
    Last week, parliament ousted defence minister Janko Veber 
because he had ordered the army secret service to analyse the 
security consequences of the sale of Telekom.  ID:nL5N0X64EW  
 
 (Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and 
Mark Potter) 
 ((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com;+386-1-5058805;  Reuters 
Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SLOVENIA TELEKOM/