LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), January 29 (SeeNews) – International private equity firm Cinven plans to place a binding offer for the purchase of incumbent telco Telekom Slovenia, Slovenian media reported.
Cinven did not provide details on the size of its bid for Telekom Slovenije that should be sent by early March when the deadline expires, daily Finance reported on Wednesday.
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The media centre of Cinven, in a short statement e-mailed to SeeNews, said it could not comment.
According to Finance, Cinven and Deutsche Telekom are seen as favourites in the race for the purchase of Telekom Slovenije, the daily said.
Slovenian state holding company SDH, which is coordinating the privatisation, told SeeNews in early December that investors interested in the 72.75% stake in Telekom Slovenije have been asked to prepare their binding bids. However, it did not provide names of the shortlisted bidders.
Telekom Slovenije is one of 15 firms that Slovenia earmarked for privatisation in 2013. Three of these have already been sold: airport operator Aerodrom Ljubljana, Fotona, a producer of medical and dental laser systems, as well as holding company Helios Domzale.
Cinven was set up in 1977 and has offices in Guernsey, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. Cinven acquires Europe-based companies that require an equity investment of 100 million euro ($113.4 million) or more, the fund said on its website.
($=0.8815 euro)