25 January 2008
Transportation and Communications Minister, Viktor Bondar said preparations for the privatization of Ukrtelecom (UTEL: HOLD)will start in February-March 2006. He said among the potential bidders are several global and Russian companies. Bondar said UTEL’s sale will bring USD 4 bln to the budget. Concorde Capital: Ukraine is not ready to start UTEL’s privatization, as there is no law which stipulates the company’s privatization specifics, and it’s not clear when the Rada will adopt it. We expect the privatization tender to take place not earlier than April-May 2006. We estimate the price for 43% of Ukrtelecom (which is most likely amount to be sold) will be about USD 2-2.5 bln, however, potential investors might be ready to pay a premium, as we saw with Kryvorizhstal (KSTL: BUY).