Bosnia to Split Post and Telecom

Bosnia to Split Post and Telecom
September 26, 2001 — Daria Sito-Sucic, Reuters: “The privatisation agency of Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat federation said on Wednesday it had selected three large companies for priority sale as part of a strategy to speed up the selloff of state-owned firms. Telecommunications companies PTT BiH and HPT Mostar as well as aluminium plant Aluminij Mostar will be top of a shortlist of 12 companies slated for fast privatisation, agency official Zlatan Dedic said. The agency decided last week to speed up its privatisation scheme due to what it said were unsatisfactory results so far. The three firms have not yet been prepared for the process and their ownership structure will have to be clarified and organisational restructuring finalised by the start of next year, Dedic said. Sarajevo-based PTT BiH, estimated to be worth 682.18 million Bosnian marka ($321.9 million), is expected to complete a split into separate telecommunications and postal companies by the end of September. Once the two separate companies have clarified their balance sheets and the federation government has defined their privatisation strategies, they would be offered for sale in an international tender in February 2002, the agency said. The same procedure applies for HPT Mostar, based in the southern town of Mostar, where a split into a telecoms and post-office unit is also a pre-condition for privatisation. The company will also need to clarify a dispute with the federation government, which says HPT’s mobile operator was illegally privatised. The state currently has a 69 percent stake in HPT Mostar, which has a total estimated value of 179.5 million marka. The agency plans to launch an international tender in February. The ownership structure of Aluminij Mostar, the third company on the list, has been also been the subject of a long dispute between management and the federation government.”