The National Property Fund said that all five bidders have been allowed through to the second round. The bidders include Swisscom, Telefonica, Belgacom, financial institutions Blackstone/CVC/Providence and the domestic PPF/J&T with Inway. Note that the financial investors will need to team up with a telecommunications operator in order to submit a final bid. The final bids are due on March 29. Swisscom reportedly offered the lowest price of CZK 371 / share while the company is the only one that would not lower the original offer in the final bid. Belgacom offered CZK 416 / share, Telefonica CZK 422, Blackstone/CVC/Providence CZK 411, while the domestic PPF/J&T/Inway offered the highest price of CZK 434 / share. According to sources close to the privatization, both Belgacom and Telefonica would repay up to 70% of the purchase price with CT’s cash.
Separately, Belgacom said that it would not bid for the state’s stake in Turk Telekom, which may suggest that the company would have more available financial resources for a potential acquisition of CT.