Today is the deadline for the seven short-listed bidders to submit their binding bids for the government’s and TelSource’s stakes (51% and 27%, respectively) in Cesky Telecom. An unconfirmed newspaper report (MFDnes) from last week spoke of three consortia, namely Deutsche Telekom/Deutsche Bank; Swisscom/CVC, Capital Partners/Spectrum Equity Partners; and OTE/Doughty, Henson/Warburg, Pincus/Apax Partners. We do not expect any official information to be released today, though unofficial reports may begin appearing in the local media. The Cabinet should discuss the tender results in early April.
Also, Cesky Telecom is scheduled to release its audited consolidated IAS results for 2001 today at 10 am CET, and is to hold an analysts presentation at noon. Given that selected preliminary results were previously released (a CZK 6.1 bil. net income on CZK 55.9 bil. revenues), results of a kind to move the stock is unlikely today. However, analysts will be studying the figures carefully to determine to what extent the excellent Q4/2001 performance was a temporary phenomenon and to what extent some of the observed margin improvements might be carried forward. Analysts’ updates may follow, i.e., there may be increased focus on the stock in the coming days (also due to speculation regarding bids).
(Ondrej Datka)