V. Mlynar, the IT minister, said that negotiations with the TDC/Deutsche Bank consortium toward a Cesky Telecom (CT) sale are complicated. The deadline for the submission of a draft privatization contract to Cabinet is November 30 (we think this can be easily extended, though). The minister reiterated that the Cabinet cannot accept a lower price than the one agreed in August, in which the consortium agreed to pay EUR 1.82 bil. for the 51% stake in CT from the state (or CZK 340 per share), and he confirmed earlier reports that the consortium wants to acquire 49% in Eurotel, CT’s mobile-phone subsidiary, from Atlantic West (the AT&T/Verizon consortium). As such, no new information.
Jiri Soustruznik