SETimes.comBusiness: Seven companies bid to underwrite Telekom Srbija
30/05/2008
Serbia's Telekom Srbija is seeking an underwriter for its IPO. Also in business this week: Turkey receives a $600m loan from the World Bank, and Montenegro introduces an eco-tax on incoming foreign vehicles this summer.
Seven companies bid to underwrite the initial public offering of Serbia's Telekom Srbija. They are Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a Raiffeisen Bank-Deutsche Bank consortium, a JP Morgan-led consortium and a Credit Suisse-led consortium, said the Serbian Privatisation Agency on Tuesday (May 27th). Disclosure of the winner should come in late July or August.
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The World Bank approved a $600m export loan for Turkey, Ulrich Zachau, the Bank's director for Turkey, said on Monday (May 26th). The loan is expected to increase the capacity and competitiveness of local exporters, providing them medium and long-term working capital and investment financing. The Turkish Industrial Development Bank and the Export Credit Bank of Turkey will distribute the loan.
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Montenegro's Tourism Ministry announced on Monday (May 26th) a new eco-tax on all foreign vehicles that enter the country this summer in an effort to protect the environment. The tax, effective from June 15th, will be 10 euros for cars and minibuses and from 30 to 150 euros for trucks, buses and other larger vehicles.
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The European Commission (EC) will head the Donors' Conference for Kosovo on July 11th, said the EC office in Pristina on Wednesday (May 28th). After calls from the government for concrete projects eligible for foreign support, municipalities submitted 357 projects in infrastructure, education, health, agriculture and tourism, the EC said.
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The Albanian Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy has put up for sale the distribution branch of Albania's electrical utility, KESH, the Financial Times reported on Thursday (May 29th). The ministry would sell from 51% to 76% of the distribution company to a strategic investor to minimise the utility's losses.
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Bulgaria's state power utility, NEK, on Wednesday (May 28th) invited two short-listed bidders in the tender for a 49% share in the second Bulgarian nuclear power plant (Belene) to submit their bids by June 23rd. The bidders for the 4-billion-euro project are German utility RWE and Belgium's Electrabel. The 2,000-MW plant should be operational by 2013 or 2014.
(Various sources – 23/05/08-30/05/08)