Serbia and Slovenia considering merging Telekoms?

At the joint session of the governments of Serbia and Slovenia held in late October, an idea appeared of merging Telekom Slovenije and Telekom Srbije, companies under majority ownership of their respective two states, Ljubljana’s Finance writes and adds that neither the Slovenian nor the Serbian party wishes to let their Telekom go.

The Slovenian government, the newspaper writes, had resisted the already agreed sale of Telekom Slovenije so much that the Cinven fund finally gave up due to increased expenses. Telekom Srbije had been in the process of being sold, but the government of Aleksandar Vucic canceled the sale shortly before the election. Telekom Slovenije competed for Telekom Srbije, together with the Apollo fund, in the last year’s sales process.

It had been agreed for Telekom Slovenije and Apollo to found a special project company, where Apollo would have brought the purchase price of Telekom Srbije, and the Slovenian state the stock of Telekom Slovenije. The state would have remained in the company for three years and then withdraw, along with Apollo, from Telekom Slovenije. This didn’t happen, but the idea of merging the two telecommunications companies appeared.

Telekom Srbija a.d. Beograd

Vlada Republike Srbije

Vlada Republike Slovenije

Telekom Slovenije Ljubljana

Apollo Global Management LLC New York

Telekom Slovenije

sale of Telekom Slovenije

sale of Telekom Srbije

Cinven fund

Aleksandar Vucic

Apollo fund

privatization of Telekom Srbije