Slovenia to sell entire Telekom and a stake in NLB bank

(Photo: I.Vukša)

Slovenian government decided to sell all state-owned shares in Talekom to enable, at good price, take over by the best strategic investor.

However, the biggest Slovenian bank,, NLB bank, will never be completely sold because of its strategic importance for the state, the Prime Minister, Alenka Bratusek, said.

-We opted for the sales of the entire Telekom Slovenia so that we could get as good strategic partner as possible and the best possible price – Bratusek said for the weekly Mladina.

It is completely different when it comes to state-owned banks, especially to the biggest one, Nova ljubljanska bank (NLB), Bratusek said and estimated that this is a good decision.

- It is a good thing that the state, once it decides to start privatization, keeps a quarter of shares in NLB – Slovenian Prime Minister thinks.

Unlike 2007, when it released a tender offering less than a half of shares in Telekom Slovenia and when mainly financial funds were interested in the purchase, now it is offering 72,75% of shares in Telekom owned by the state, its funds and insurance bureaus.

It is counted on the offers of some large, world telecommunication companies, Deutsche Telekom being the most often mentioned.

According to the current ranking of shares at the Ljubljana’s stock exchange market, Telekom Slovenia is almost EUR 900 mil worth and Slovenian media claim that, upon a takeover, the future investor could offer up to a billion euros for all the company shares.