Austrians Being Persistent: the Sale of Telekom Srbija Is Back on the Table
A1 Telekom Austria, which tried to buy the Serbian national operator Telekom Srbija seven years ago, isn’t giving up on the prospect, the Vecernje Novosti daily reports.
As the company’s CEO, Alejandro Plater stated, the group wants to keep expanding in Eastern Europe, primarily by acquisitions.
He emphasized that there needs to be more investments in Serbia, Croatia and other former Yugoslav countries. The last attempt to sell Telekom Srbija, which ultimately failed, took place in 2015. The potential purchaser at the time was the US investment fund Apollo, which, unofficially, offered 1.2 billion euros for 58 percent of the Serbian Telekom in a joint bid with Telekom Slovenije.
A1 Telekom Austria was not a bidder at the time, but it had been a potential purchaser several years before.
The Vecernje Novosti reminded its readers that there is a huge number of opponents of the sale of Telekom Srbija, primarily among experts. The basic argument is that the Telekom should not be sold because it earns an annual profit higher than those of all other competing companies on the Serbian market, and the sale would bring about an outflow of money from the country, a rise in service prices and layoffs of employees.
Izvor: Večernje novosti
Foto: Promo
