IT Minister Vladimir Mlynar repeated yesterday that he would favour selling the state's 51% stake in CT to a single investor as opposed to selling it through capital markets. Mlynar expects the proceeds from the tender to exceed income from a public offering. Note that PM Stanislav Gross said on Wednesday that he would favour a sale via capital markets to avoid pressures from various lobby groups. CSFB/CS, the government's advisor, should recommend the optimal privatization form to the Government in October while the Government is expected to make a decision on it in the same month, i.e. October at the latest.
Separately, the anti-trust office fined the three Czech mobile operators CZK 44 m for operating a cartel agreement. Eurotel will pay CZK 22 m (CZK 0.06 per CT share), T-Mobile CZK 12 m and Oskar CZK 10 m. The operators made agreements under which they excluded interconnection via a third operator. This, according to the anti-trust office, discriminated against customers and third operators, which might have been able to provide cheaper interconnection. The mobile operators are considering legal action against the decision. (Neutral)
In other news, Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka plans to investigate the CT management and Supervisory Board's motivation program. The plan runs for three years and is linked to the development of CT's share price and the success of the privatization of the company; it was approved at CT's AGM held in June 2004 hence it should not be any surprise.
Tomáš Gatěk