Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Minister says definite "no" to Lattelekom sale

Latvia's Minister of Economics Aigars Stokenbergs said "a crystal clear no" to selling 100 % of the fixed network operator Lattelekom to Sweden's TeliaSonera but said negotiations would continue on the Swedish company's offer to buy 100 % of mobile operator Latvian Mobile Telephone (LMT).
It was the first clear rejection of part of TeliaSonera's offer, told to this blogger. Stokenbergs said the main reason for rejecting the Swedish offer was not concern about market dominance voiced earlier by some government officials and analysts, but rather that Lattelekom could pursue a more independent business development strategy even if 100 % owned by the state. At some future date, the government would probably opt for an IPO of Lattelekom on one of the region's or Europe's larger stock exchanges.
More later...

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