ZAGREB, Oct 4 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Monday decided that the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom (DT) would become the owner of 35 per cent of the shares of Croatian Telecom (HT). In an additional bidding
round, Deutsche Telekom had offered US$850 million, whereas the Swedish-Norwegian company Telia-Telenor had offered US$641 million. The agreement on the purchase of 35 per cent of HT shares should be signed by the end of this week. At today's half-an-hour session, which was held behind closed doors, the Government decided to accept DT's bid in line with which 95 per cent of the amount (US$807.5 million) will be paid the day after the signing of the agreement, while the remaining five per cent (US$42.5 million) will be paid after Deutsche Telekom has checked whether data on HT's business and finances are in accordance with the data received d
ZAGREB, Oct 4 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Monday decided
that the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom (DT)
would become the owner of 35 per cent of the shares of Croatian
Telecom (HT). In an additional bidding round, Deutsche Telekom had
offered US$850 million, whereas the Swedish-Norwegian company
Telia-Telenor had offered US$641 million.
The agreement on the purchase of 35 per cent of HT shares should be
signed by the end of this week.
At today's half-an-hour session, which was held behind closed
doors, the Government decided to accept DT's bid in line with which
95 per cent of the amount (US$807.5 million) will be paid the day
after the signing of the agreement, while the remaining five per
cent (US$42.5 million) will be paid after Deutsche Telekom has
checked whether data on HT's business and finances are in
accordance with the data received during the privatisation
process, Finance Minister Borislav Skregro told reporters.
This ends the first phase of HT's privatisation, to be followed by
another one, which is awaited by thousands of Croatian citizens. It
is the initial public bid of a part of HT shares, to take place in a
year, Skergo said.
He explained that the second phase will also include 35 per cent of
HT shares, with seven per cent to be given to Croatian solders, and
the remaining 28 per cent to be sold on domestic and foreign
markets.
In relation to Croatia's population, the privatisation of HT is the
largest transaction in the field of telecommunications in Central
and East Europe, completed in a record period of time, twice shorter
than in similar transactions, Skegro said. The budgetary income
from the sale amounts to 6.040 billion kuna (DM1.55 billion), which
means that HT's current market value is 17.2 billion kuna or
US$2.429 billion or DM4.427 billion.
Emphasising that HT's privatisation had been carried out in a
transparent, open, and responsible manner, Skegro judged this set
standards for the future privatisation of large Croatian
companies. By refusing Telia-Telenor's initial offer of US$611
million, the Government showed that in the future it would not
accept offers which are below the real value of what is being
offered, Skegro said.
The Finance Minister said the income from the sale of 35 per cent of
HT shares guaranteed budget stability in this and next year.
HT management president and a member of the HT privatisation
council, Ivica Mudrinic, said HT would remain a majority Croatian
company even after Deutsche Telekom's arrival. He announced the
appointment of a six-member management, with three members from HT
and DT each.
A supervisory board will have five members from HT and four from DT.
Mudrinic announced that HT would in the next several days appoint a
new management and present business guidelines.
Asked whether DT would be able to buy HT shares in the second
privatisation phase as well, the president of the HT privatisation
commission, Ivan Mijatovic, said, "it won't be possible".
Both Skegro and Mijatovic declined to comment on whether and what
kind of changes have been included in the agreement.
"If somebody thinks that they will get money for an item which is not
defined or approved by the budget, they are very wrong. The money
(from the sale of HT shares) can already be considered spent for the
law-defined budgetary items, of which the public will be informed
in detail soon", Skegro said.
According to official data, the state income from the sale of HT
shares amounts to four per cent of Croatia's BDP, and according to
the Finance Ministry's estimates little above three per cent of
GDP, Skegro said.
He thanked "the Government and the President, who supported us in
taking the risk and rejecting the first offer which was too low,
without which we could not have achieved the result we have now".
On September 29, the Croatian Government rejected a bid by Telia-
Telenor, which at that time was the only bid, amounting to US$611
million. It then called on Deutsche Telekom and Telia-Telenor to
submit financially stronger bids in a new round.
(hina) rml