The state no longer has an interest in retaining its 49% stake in the incumbent telco Slovak Telekom, according to Tomas Malatinsky, Slovakia’s new economy minister.
Quoted in both the local and Czech press, he added that the stake could fetch up to €1 billion, which was the amount paid by Deutsche Telekom for its majority (51%) share in the telco in 2000.
Significantly, as the majority owner, Deutsche Telekom would have first refusal on any sale of the state’s 49% stake.
However, despite the minister’s statement, the Slovak government does not generally support the sale of strategic assets to private companies.