The PM's advisor, Jan Mladek, also said that the state's 51% stake in Cesky Telecom should be sold via a tender as the Cabinet would be able to cash a 10-20% premium or CZK 5 - 10bn (CZK 30 - 61 per share). Mladek's comments are in contrast to previous comments from the PM and deputy PM, both favouring a capital markets transaction (SPO) citing greater transparency and speed of the transaction. Euro magazine also reported that Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka would prefer an SPO. Euro also wrote that the government's advisor, CSFB/CS, has suggested a dual strategy for the privatization, which considers both sale methods (SPO and tender) while SPO would only be used if the tender fails. The Ministry of Finance was reportedly not happy with the proposal and asked the advisor to clarify some issues. The Ministry of Finance should consider the advisor's privatization form recommendation on October 22 while the Cabinet should make the final decision in mid-November.
Also, the National Property Fund's (NPF) Vice-chairman, Pavel Kuta, said that based on a preliminary enquiry strategic investors' preliminary interest in the privatization was very positive indeed, despite the fact that no decision on the privatization form has been taken so far. Source: CTK, Bloomberg, Euro, CIA News.
In other news, CT decided that Eurotel would distribute CZK 4 bn in dividends from retained earnings to CT. This payment should be made by the end of the year. The dividends will be used partly for debt reduction, CAPEX and the payment of already approved dividends of 17 CZK per share. No windfall dividend for CT shareholders should be expected.
Tomáš Gatěk, Patria Finance