Slovenia’s government on Monday admitted that a decision on the sale or otherwise of Telekom Slovenije will not likely be made until after the summer recess.
Metod Dragonja, state secretary at the Ministry of Finance, told the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) that the government is still in talks with U.K. private equity firm Cinven over the sale of its 72.75% stake in Telekom Slovenije.
However, he said the negotiations have been complicated by the merger of Telekom Slovenije’s Macedonian mobile arm, One, with local rival Vip Operator, owned by Telekom Austria. The companies gained approval for the deal from Macedonia’s competition watchdog earlier in July.
Due to the ongoing situation there, Dragonja said the future of Telekom Slovenije will probably not be decided until after the government’s summer break, which lasts for the bulk of August.
Cinven is the sole bidder for Telekom Slovenije. It made a bid for the incumbent operator on 20 May that was subsequently approved by the government.
However, in mid June, Cinven tweaked its offer. It allegedly wanted to withhold some of the purchase price pending the resolution of the Macedonia situation and Telekom Slovenije’s acquisition of MVNO Debitel.
Slovenia rejected the a mended offer.
