Telekom Austria Group Submitted the Second Highest Bid in the Tender for Telekom Srpske (Ad hoc Release)
Vienna, December 5, 2006: The Directorate of Privatizations of the Republic of Srpska today announced the results of the first phase of privatization of a 65% stake in Telekom Srpske, the second largest fixed line, mobile and Internet service provider in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Telekom Austria Group (VSE: TKA, NYSE: TKA) submitted a lower bid than its only competitor.
Following today’s announcement the Directorate invited the higher bidder to negotiate transaction documentation, a process which will take a maximum of one month. The Telekom Austria Group will continue to closely monitor the outcome of the negotiations and is prepared to start negotiating with the Directorate if the negotiations with the higher bidder fail.
Boris Nemsic, CEO of the Telekom Austria Group and CEO mobilkom austria said: “The outcome of the tender so far is disappointing for us, however, we are committed to deploy our capital and resources in the region in the most efficient way to create value for our shareholders. We expect other opportunities to arise in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the near future and we will continue to evaluate projects in our target region.”
Stefano Colombo, Chief Financial Officer of the Telekom Austria Group added: “The current result of the tender leaves us with financial flexibility to pursue other attractive opportunities in the region. We are also constantly reviewing our shareholder remuneration policy to ensure that our shareholders receive attractive return on their capital. As previously announced we will update the cash use policy in spring 2007”.
Contact:
Peter E. Zydek
Telekom Austria Investor Relations
Tel.: +43 (0) 590591-19001
E-mail: peter.zydek@telekom.at
