Australian Government Still Hoping For Telstra Sale Oct, Nov"

CANBERRA (Dow JOnes)--The Australian government Monday deferred a decision about selling the final tranche of major local telecoms company Telstra Corp., a spokesman for Finance Minister Nick Minchin said.

The decision was made at a Cabinet meeting, the spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.

"They did confirm that they would continue making preparations for the possible sale of shares later in the year," the spokesman said of the Cabinet deliberations.

"They deferred a final decision on the sale until a later date."

Minchin's spokesman said the government still hopes to sell the 51.8% stake in Telstra, with a market value of about A$25 billion, in October or November this year.

A decision on the sale could be made in the next month or so, with the deferral due to ongoing talks between Telstra and the competition regulator.

-By Barbara Adam, Dow Jones Newswires;
61-3-9614-2663; barbara.adam@dowjones.com
-Edited by Ian Pemberton

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 8th May 2006