State wants to sell stake in Romtelecom, expects EUR 1bln for it

The Romanian state announced its intention to sell the stake it has in Romtelecom, a company partly owned by Greek group OTE and partly by the Ministry of Communications. The state hopes it will get EUR 1 billion for the stake. “The Ministry of Communications will take into account the market realities and will not sell the share package at any price,” said Communication Minister Valerian Vreme.

The Romtelecom shareholders are the Greek group OTE which has a stake of 54.01 percent and the Ministry of Communications, with a stake of 45.99 percent. Also, German operator Deutsche Telekom has a participation of 30 percent in OTE.

The Romanian state asked OTE officials to come up with a price offer for the shares that the state owns in Romtelecom by the end of the year.

The state also takes into consideration listing the shares on the Stock Exchange

A meeting took place on this issue between Marius Fecioru, state secretary in the Ministry of Communications on the one hand and Michael Tsamaz, president and CEO of OTE, Yorgos Ioannidis (in picture), CEO of Romtelecom and Guido Kerkhoff, member of the administration board of Deutsche Τelekom AG.

OTE representatives said they will analyze all the available options, so that the decision that is made will benefit all shareholders.

Romtelecom posted revenues of EUR 181.5 million in the third quarter of 2010, which represented a 6.5 percent decline on the same period when it posted EUR 194.2 million. The operator continued to register operational losses, of EUR 13.9 million in Q3, 2010 while during the same period of last year it posted an operational profit of EUR 8 million.