Austria's EPIC buys Ukrtelecom for UAH 10.575b

17:57

ESU LLC, a subsidiary of Austria's EPIC Concern, and Ukraine's State Property Fund (SPF) have signed an agreement on the sale of a state-owned 92.79% stake in telecoms giant OJSC Ukrtelecom for UAH 10.575 billion, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported.

SPF Head Oleksandr Riabchenko told the press that over the next 60 days the buyer is to send the balance of UAH 9.535 billion (the purchase sum minus the UAH 1.05 billion ESU sent as a bid deposit). Half of the sum is to be transferred within 30 days.

"When the funds are sent, we'll sign a handover certificate, amend the register of shareholders and then the buyers want to announce their plans," he said.

A representative of ESU's Wolfgang Herritsch, who signed the agreement, did not comment on the issue.

As reported, the SPF announced a tender for the privatization of 92.79% of the stocks in Ukrtelecom in October 2010, setting the starting price at UAH 10.5 billion. Only one bid was received, from EPIC's Ukrainian subsidiary - ESU LLC. Due to this, an additional assessment of the stake to be sold was announced. Kyiv-based Ostrov consulting firm, which assessed Ukrtelecom's stockholding, evaluated the stake at UAH 10.575 billion.

EPIC then announced it was ready to pay the said sum.

The company plans to enhance Ukrtelecom's position on the market so that in four or five years the company will be able to attract a strategic investor or undergo an initial public offering (IPO).

In 2010, Ukrtelecom cut its net losses by 43.9%, to UAH 258.77 million. Its net revenues last year fell by 1.7%, to UAH 6.749 billion.