Ukraine Seeks $7 Billion For 67.7% Of UkrTelecom

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine wants as much as $7 billion for a majority stake in VAT UkrTelecom, the national telephone company, Minister for Transport and Communication Yosyp Vinskyy said.


The government plans to auction a 67.7 percent stake in UkrTelecom, Vinskyy told reporters today in Kiev.

For a decade, the state, which owns 92.8 percent, has put off plans to sell shares because of disputes between ministries.

"I think the price for a stake will surge to $7 billion during the auction," Vinskyy said. "The other 25 percent will sell at a stock exchange," he said without providing details.

If the UkrTelecom stake sells at that price it would set a record for annual asset sales in the country.

Ukraine has sold other state assets since Viktor Yushchenko became president in 2004. Yushchenko pledged to bring the country, which borders the European Union and Russia, closer to the West.

UkrTelecom shares advanced 3.1 percent to 1.06 hryvnia in Kiev.

Before Yushchenko took power, Ukraine state assets had been sold at discounts to allies of former President Leonid Kuchma.

Yushchenko's administration annulled the sale of steel mill VAT Kryvorizhstal to Viktor Pinchuk, Kuchma's son-in-law, for $800 million, and resold it to Arcelor Mittal for $4.8 billion in October 2005.

Ukrainian asset sales raised $720,000 in 2007, compared with $119 million in 2006 and $4.1 billion in 2005.

Yulia Timoshenko, who became prime minister on Dec. 18, said she wants to speed up the sale of state assets.

Source: Bloomberg