SPF To Sell 37.86% of Ukrtelecom On International Exchanges?

The State Property Fund (SPF) announced plans yesterday to place a 37.86% stake in Ukrtelecom (UTEL: HOLD) on international exchanges in 2H07 and hold five auctions for 1% stakes between the end of March and June 23 on local exchanges. Earlier the Rada’s Economic Policy Committee confirmed the SPF’s plans to place a 5% stake of UTEL on local exchanges. The SPF is scheduled to announce the dates of the auctions on March 28. Nick Piazza: The plan to place a 5% stake on local exchanges looks like it is gaining momentum and we hope it happens. However, placing a 37.86% stake abroad, perhaps on several exchanges would be tall task for most western government agencies, meaning it would be a Herculean task for Semenuik and Co. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich scolded the SPF yesterday for bringing only 26% of the privatization revenues planned for 1Q07 and this could have be a pre-planned announcement to draw attention away from criticism. Remember the SPF’s announcement that it was going to place a large stake in the loss-making Teksterno on the London Stock Exchange last summer? This announcement has the same smell, as no details of how the SPF planned to carry out these placements were released.