Hungarian telecommunications group Matav made the highest bid for a 51 percent stake in Montenegro's state telecom company Telekom Crne Gore, officials said on Wednesday.
Branko Vujovic, head of the Restructuring and Foreign Investment agency, told reporters that Matav had offered 114 million euros ($155 million), while Slovenia's Telekom came in second with a bid of 93 million euros.
Serbia's Telekom Srbija, which is 20 percent owned by Greece's OTE , offered 88.9 million euros, and Austria's Mobilkom, the mobile unit of Telekom Austria , bid 87 million euros. Matav's bid included a plan to invest 67 million euros over the next five years and a pledge to buy the remaining 49 percent of Telekom Crne Gore from small shareholders.
Slovenia's Telekom planned investments in the firm's fixed and mobile lines for an undisclosed amount, while Telekom Srbija and Mobilkom were proposing investment programmes worth 69 million and 87 million euros, respectively.
The tender commission will pass on the list of bidders to the Privatisation Agency for approval and talks will start with the best bidder by late January. Officials have said the buyer would be chosen on the basis of both its cash offer and its business and social programme.
Telekom Crne Gore has 190,000 fixed-line subscribers and posted 92 million euros turnover in 2003. Government estimates value it at around 150 million euros.
Source: Reuters
06.01.2005