The National Property Fund announced yesterday that there are 10 parties interested in the government’s 51% stake in Ceske radiokomunikace. The government's privatization advisor is currently sending out an information memorandum and preliminary bids are to be submitted by December 4. The Cabinet will then short-list the candidates on the basis of the preliminary bids. The final bids of the short-listed candidates are expected in the course of January 2001. Six candidates had previously expressed their preliminary interest (TeleDanmark, Deutsche Telekom, Vivendi, Telecom Italia, Emerging Markets Partnership and Hicks, Muse, and Tate & Furst), but additional candidates have must have emerged. The stock did not respond to the news on Wednesday.
(Ondřej Daťka)