Telekom to give away its stake to shareholders

By the end of this year, the holders of free shares of Telekom Srbija and other shareholders may increase their stake in that telecom firm as the shares that Telekom Srbija bought back from Greece's OTE might be canceled.

- The 1st of January, 2015 is the deadline for Telekom Srbija to reduce its own stake to maximum 10 percent - explains Predrag Culibrk, the general manager of Telekom Srbija.

- Considering that it is impossible to find someone who would pay minimum EUR 380 million for a 20-percent stake without management rights, which is the price we paid, we are thinking about canceling all 20% of own shares maybe as early as by the end of this year. In that way, the value of stakes of other shareholders would be increased, so the state would hold a 72 percent stake in Telekom Srbija, while 28 percent of shares would be in the possession of all other owners - says Culibrk.

The current ownership structure in Telekom Srbija is as follows: the state holds 58 percent of shares, citizens and former and current employees of this telecom firm hold 22%, while aforementioned 20 percent belong to Telekom. The Company Law stipulates that every joint-stock company can keep only 10 percent of its own shares and alienate the rest within three years of their acquisition.

If this fifth of shares is canceled, the stake of existing shareholders will be increased, but the share value will remain the same.