A growing number of incumbents in Central and Eastern Europe are finding themselves on the market.
In Slovakia, it has just been reported that the government plans to list its 49% stake in Slovak Telekom on the stock exchanges in Bratislava and London following the failure of potential take-over talks with Deutsche Telekom, the majority (51%) owner of the company.
If the IPO is successful, it could, say local media reports, raise up to €800 million.
Meanwhile, in Slovenia the on-off privatisation of Telekom Slovenije recently took a new twist when it was reported that the strategic implications of its sale could have been investigated by the country’s security services.
The sale itself, part of a wider process to privatise 15 large Slovenian companies, was suspended in July last year ahead of national elections.
Although it has met with opposition – there were public demonstrations against it in the capital, Ljubljana, in February – it is likely to go ahead in the near future.
Indeed, the government’s 73% stake in the company – Telekom Slovenije itself is believed to be worth up to $1 billion – is already understood to have attracted interest from several parties including Deutsche Telekom and the investment funds Cinven and Providence.
Opposition to the privatisation of the incumbent is probably even stronger in Serbia, where Telekom Srbija is widely seen as a strategic asset.
Back in 2011, Telekom Austria lodged a bid of €1.1 billion for a 51% stake in the company, only to see it rejected by the government, which was seeking an additional €300 million.
Also in the same year, the Serbian government paid Greece’s OTE, which is backed by Deutsche Telekom, €380 million to buy back its 20% in the company. The move made Telekom Srbija wholly state owned, and therefore – in theory – easier to privatise.
With other incumbents in Central and Eastern Europe also having recently seen changes in ownership (O2 in the Czech Republic, for instance) or looking for investors, these are interesting times for telcos, most of which are now active players in the TV industry.
