On Friday, Minister of Trade and Industry Milan Urban said that the CT bids received are in line with the government’s expectations and that so far developments in the tender have boosted hopes that CT will be successfully privatized. According to the press, at least five bids were submitted for the 51% stake by the deadline of Feb 3. The telecoms operators include Swisscom, Telefonica and Belgacom. It is not clear whether France Telecom and Vodafone filed bids. Financial investors include a consortium of Blackstone/CVC/Providence and domestic PPF/J&T with Inway. The preliminary bids are reportedly as high as USD 3bn (CZK 420 / share). Note that Belgacom is reportedly offering CZK 343 per share with financial groups at around CZK 396.
The privatization steering committee is meeting today at 13:00 CET to evaluate the bids and make a shortlist of bidders allowed into due diligence. An official statement on the tender should be released today after the meeting according to the National Property Fund. On Wednesday Feb 9 the cabinet is expected to approve the short-listed companies. Depending on the bids the state might still opt for a capital market transaction, but if current indications are confirmed, we see the probability of a float as minimal. Binding bids are expected by the end of the third week in March and a strategic investor should be chosen by the end of March.