December 28 (SeeNews) - Bosnia's Federation will conduct due diligence at its telecommunications companies, BH Telecom and HT Mostar, in cooperation with international financial institutions by September next year, local media reported on Thursday.
One of the conditions for obtaining funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to sign a contract with international advisors to conduct a due diligence process at BH Telecom and HT Mostar, with the aim of restructuring and/or selling the government's shares, news portal Klix.ba reported.
According to the portal, the international advisors should enter the two companies early next year to begin the process.
The due diligence will be financed by the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will call an international tender.
In September last year, the IMF approved a three-year 553.3 million euro ($660 million) loan to Bosnia to support the country's economic reform agenda. However, the IMF delayed the release of the second loan tranche in May, after the Bosnian authorities failed to meet the agreed economic reform targets.
The IMF said last week it reached a staff-level agreement with the country to conclude the first review under the three-year loan deal. However, the global lender is asking of Bosnia to fulfil several remaining conditions, including the initiation of due diligence at BH Telecom and HT Mostar.
The Federation government controls a 90% stake in BH Telecom and 50.1% of HT Mostar.
The Federation is one of two entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other is the Serb Republic.
Telekom Srpske, majority-owned by Serbian state-controlled Telekom Srbija, has its customers mainly in the Serb Republic.
($=0.838340 euro)