Fresh Talks Over Telekom Austria Sale

There are renewed rumours that the Austrian government is looking to sell its 27 percent stake in Telekom Austria - and named Egypt's Orascom Telecom as a potential bidder. The Egyptian firm has been named in several previous reports of a sale by the government.

It is expected that Orascom would liaise with Weather Investments, which is controlled by Orascom's majority shareholder, Naguib Sawiris for financing.

The Austrian newspaper, Die Presse noted though that the share price of the company has halved over the past year - so any sale is not likely to be imminent.

It was reported last October that the Austrian state investment company, OeIAG, which manages the governments shareholding had hired JP Morgan to find a merger partner for Telekom Austria.

Austrian newspaper Der Standard said that JP Morgan had concluded that a merger with Orascom Telecom would offer the most benefits, but it was also in talks with Russian and Mid-East based telecoms operators. The newspaper cited sources close to OeIAG and Telekom Austria.

OeIAG head Peter Michaelis said on Thursday that no M&A project was imminent for Telekom Austria. Telekom Austria was not immediately available for comment.

On the web: Der Standard - Die Presse

Posted to the site on 8th February 2009