Seven companies eye Serbia telecom

Four companies have so far purchased tender documentation for the upcoming sale of a majority stake in Serbia's state-run Telekom Srbija telephone company, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.
German Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Telekom Austria and Mexican America Movil have already purchased the documentation, the statement said.
Russia's Weather Investments which owns Egypt's Orascom, the second largest Russian operator Vimpelcom and Turkcell in Turkey were in the process of purchasing the documentation, the ministry said.
"The deadline for the purchase of tender documents expires on December 10 … and all companies which purchase the papers will have until February 21, 2011 to make a binding bid," it said.
The bidding procedure stipulates that multiple bids will prompt a televised auction by the end of February. "A single bid envisions the sale in line with the offer," the ministry said.
The Serbian government owns 80% of Telekom Srbija, with OTE holding the remaining 20%. Deutsche Telekom and the Greek state are OTE's two biggest shareholders, with holdings of 30 and 20%, respectively.
The Serbian government hopes to get 1.4 bln euros ($1.93 bln) from the sale. Top Serbian officials have repeatedly said the government wants to use the proceeds to help finance the redevelopment of its infrastructure.
Belgrade also wants to distribute 15% of its remaining Telekom shares to an estimated 5 mln citizens in Serbia.
The Telekom sale is part of a 2008 government plan to distribute free shares in major state-run enterprises, including the NIS oil business, Belgrade's airport and the Galenika drugs firm.
To date, the government has only distributed 15% of its stake in NIS, of which Russia's Gazprom bought 51% in 2009.