Serbia hopes billionaire Mikhail Fridman won’t prevail in the tender for the national phone company Telekom Srbija, after he showed preliminary interest in it through VimpelCom Ltd. and Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri, Blic reported, citing an unidentified government official.
The government “does not have the best experience with Russian management” after it sold its national oil company to Gazprom Neft two years ago, the newspaper reported. It also quoted the government’s economic adviser, Jurij Bajec, who denied that there would be any bias in the sale of 51 percent of Telekom Srbija.
Other potential bidders include Deutsche Telekom, Telekom Austria, France Telecom, America Movil and Orascom Telecom Holding through Weather Investments.
(Bloomberg)
