Cesky Telecom vice president Juraj Sedivy said yesterday that (regarding its effort to renegotiate the preliminary price for a 49% stake in Eurotel in face of capital markets turbulence in September) Cesky Telecom has submitted a new proposal to the other side (a consortium of Verizon Communications and AT&T Wireless Services), but that a new price has not been agreed. The MFDnes newspaper suggests that Cesky Telecom seeks a 10% reduction in the purchase price (from the USD 1.475 bil. preliminarily agreed in July). The paper also quotes a state official as saying that the new price could be around USD 1.2 bil., which would imply almost a 20% reduction. Talk of a 10-20% reduction in the price to be paid for Eurotel may help Cesky Telecom stock today.
Also, the Lidove noviny newspaper reports that Cesky Telecom has delayed a bond issue intended to finance the Eurotel acquisition until the domestic bond markets stabilizes. Given that negotiations on the Eurotel purchase price continue, we do not see this as negative news.
(Ondrej Datka)