Serbia’s privatisation agency has called for offers for a controlling stake in state-owned telco Telekom Srbija.
Late last week the body issued a set of rules for companies interested in owning the operator.
Interested parties are required to show that they have recorded annual telecoms-related revenues of €500 million or have €2 billion worth of assets under management, as of the end of last year, the agency said in a local language statement.
The Serbian government holds 58.1% of Telekom Srbija. It is expected to raise in the low billions of euros from the sale.
The state abandoned a previous attempt to privatise the operator in 2011 after it failed to attract sufficiently attractive bids.
It rejected a €1.1 billion offer from Telekom Austria in the first half of the year, having stated that it aimed to raise at least €1.4 billion from the process.
Vimpelcom, Deutsche Telekom, America Movil and Turkcell also showed interest in the operator at that time. France Telecom was named as a potential buyer, but declined to participate in the sale as it deemed the asset too expensive.
Greece’s OTE held a 20% stake in Telekom Srbija from the late 1990s until early 2012 when it sold the shares back to the state for €380 million. Similarly, Telecom Italia sold back a 29% stake in the telco f or €195 million in 2003.
Those interested in taking part in this latest privatisation attempt have until 23 July to submit their phase one documents. Those that qualify for stage two will have until 2 August to submit their bids.
