December 4 (SeeNews) - US investment firm Bain Capital is about to exit the race for the privatisation of Telekom Slovenije but has not officially informed it yet, local media reported on Thursday.
According to several sources of daily Finance, Bain was no longer interested in the acquisition of Telekom Slovenije. In addition, Bain asked for postponing a management presentation of the company, planned for December 10, 2014, the daily added.
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The tender for a 72.75% stake in Telekom Slovenije is overseen by state holding firm SDH. Bain is among the bidders pre-qualified in the non-binding part of the sales process, such as Deutsche Telekom and buy-out firms Providence, Cinven and Apax. According to Finance's unofficial information it made the second best offer after Apax.
Bain Capital is not the first to withdraw from the bidding. Russian operator MTS quit the race earlier, probably because of the sanctions on Russian capital in the European Union, Finance noted.
Telekom Slovenije is the biggest company among the 15 approved for privatisation by the Slovenian parliament in June 2013. The list also includes lender NKBM, flag carrier Adria Airways and the operator of the Ljubljana airport.