This blog prematurely reported the signing of a memo last week :), but I was on the right track.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Lattelecom, LMT privatization memo finally signed
I now see that the Latvian government, TeliaSonera and Lattelecom have finally signed a memo of understanding on the privatization of Lattelecom and Latvian Mobile Telephone (LMT). The memo assumes that a final agreement will be signed on September 24, not September 12 as assumed earlier (the delay is due to scheduling considerations and vacations). This is yet another step toward the management buy-out (for around LVL 290 million) of Lattelecom and the sale of the remaining government stake in LMT to TeliaSonera.
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3 comments:
For an outsider it is really hard to understand, why does the government not auction off the part they have via a public open process, like a proper privatization should be done. With just one pre-agreed buyer you never get the best prize. Seems like a shady deal.
Has there been any opposition from politicians or normal people in Latvia to how this sell-off is being handled?
In any open auction, the main player would be TeliaSonera and the government decided a year ago that the Swedes were not to get both operators. So it was either player A (the MBO) or player B (TeliaSonera). I don't think there would be many other takers and no guarantee of a significantly higher price.
In my opinion, this deal could make many opportunities possible. One of them is equalization of the tarrifing of stationary phones and mobile phones. Maybe TeliaSonera will improve the peer-to-peer and connection speed of the lattelecom internet users. It would be really great if they'll do this. Unfortunately, we don't have any information about their future plans, do we?
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