Four international companies have already indicated their interest in buying the troubled state company Kosovo Telecom, before the actual bidding process has formally opened.
“Several international companies have shown interest in the privatisation of Telecom: A1 Telekom Austria, Orange, Rockaway Capital I PFF Group and Artillery One,” the ministry told BIRN.Four international companies have submitted requests to Kosovo’s Ministry of Economic Development about the privatisation of Kosovo Telecom – although the bidding process has yet to start.
The government on Tuesday started the procedures for the privatisation of Telecom in order to improve the performance of the company which, according to the Minister of Economic Development, Valdrin Lluka, has been troubled in recent years.
The ministry explained that initially some preconditions would have to be met before Kosovo Telecom is sold.
One was “the restructuring of the enterprise with the assistance of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD, with which the government of Kosovo will work closely in preparation for the privatisation process,” the ministry said.
The most interested company so far has been Artillery One, owned by US investor Daniel Peter Cannon.
Only a day before the government decided to start the privatisation procedures for Telecom, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj met officials of the company.
A representative of Artillery One, Senton Kacaniku, told BIRN on Tuesday that they had asked the Ministry of Economic Development for the financial data on Telecom, in order to evaluate its worth.
He explained that the company was interested in buying 75 per cent of the shares through any procedure suggested by the ministry or the government.
“We are open either for application for strategic investor status or through any procedure determined on time by the government of Kosovo,” Kacaniku said.
The ministry said that Artillery One had, however, sought an exclusive role in the privatisation and commercialisation process.
“[Artillery One] has sent the Ministry of Economic Development an expression of interest to undertake an analysis on the financial activity, organisational and capital structure as well as the economic and intellectual property assets of this enterprise,” the ministry noted.
“Among other things … they also sought exclusivity during the analysis phase and absolute priority in any process of privatisation or commercialisation of the enterprise,” it added.
According the ministry, Telecom is not yet open for privatisation and commercialization at this phase, while Artillery One’s demand for an exclusive role would violate the laws on free market competition.
Once the most profitable company in Kosovo, Telecom’s problems date from 2010 when the government then led by Hashim Thaci, currently President of Kosovo, stopped further investment, awaiting its privatisation.
“Privatisation never happened. And in 2010 it lost up to 10 per cent of its trade because of the blockage of investments by the government,” a policy analyst at the Pristina-based GAP Institute, Berat Thaqi, told BIRN in June last year.
Balaj told BIRN that government mismanagement was the key factor in pushing Kosovo Telecom close towards bankruptcy.
An MP from the opposition Vetevendosje party, Albulena Haxhiu, said on Tuesday that the government had interfered in the company badly.
“Every week there was a list of employment [posts] sent from [political] parties, and the directors were changed for private and party interests,” the MP said.
“Imagine what a powerful company should have to be to cope with this,” Haxhiu added on Facebook, following the decision of the government to start the privatisation procedure.
The Balkaninsight
