Serbia Shortlists Two Candidates to Advise Telco Sale

The privatisation advisor will have to recommend a strategy for partial privatisation of Telekom Srbija by the end of the year, state secretary of the Economy Ministry Ciric Nebojsa Ciric said in a statement.

The consortium has asked for a fee for its services equal to 1.19% of the value of the future sale, while Morgan Stanley has asked for 1.35%.

Telekom Srbija should start trading on the bourses in London and Belgrade in the second quarter of 2009, Ciric said, adding that Serbia will remain the majority owner of its telecoms company. The government owns 80% of Telekom Srbija, while Greek telecoms group OTE owns the remainder.

Besides the financial offers of the two candidates, the commission will take into consideration their previous experience in the IPO area, Ciric said, adding that the ranking of the offers is expected to be concluded next week.

Telekom Srbija has said it plans to raise its gross profit by 42% to 21.4 billion dinars ($30 million) in 2008. It is the single provider of fixed-line services in the country. It also controls some 70% of the domestic wireless services market through its mobile telepony unit MTS.

Telekom Srbija is the majority owner of the second-largest telecoms company in neighbouring Bosnia and the Mtel mobile operator in Serbia’s southern neighbour Montenegro, 

($ = 0.7086 euro)