Asked if he had recently had a secret meeting with T-HT, which is owned by DT, Omerzel said in Saturday's issue of the Ljubljana-based daily Dnevnik that the sale of the state's stake in the Slovenian operator was not within his remit and that he had not discussed this with T-HT.
"But it's no secret that Deutsche Telekom is again one of the serious potential buyers."
Dnevnik recalled that Hungary's Magyar Telekom, which is owned by DT, offered EUR 340 per share in Telekom Slovenije in 2008, 60 euros less than the best two bidders - Iceland's Skipti and the Bain Capital & Axos Capital & BT consortium. The sale was eventually cancelled.
This time DT plans to compete for the Slovenian operator through T-HT, the daily said.
Telekom Slovenije stock is going for EUR 110 per share at the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. Since the state's entire stake, 62.5 per cent, is on sale, bids ranging from 120 to 160 euros are expected.
The money from the sale will be used to reduce the budget deficit. The government, which could get EUR 1 billion for its stake, a little less than it could have gotten in 2008, has promised the whole procedure will be transparent.