Cinven pulls out of Telekom Slovenije acquisition
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Cinven pulls out of Telekom Slovenije acquisition

Slovenia’s privatisation regulator SDH has officially ended the sale process for Telekom Slovenije after sole bidder Cinven pulled out of negotiations to purchase the operator.

The UK-based private equity firm confirmed that it wished to cease negotiations for the acquisition of the government’s 72.75% stake on the grounds that the transaction was no longer “economically feasible”.

Cinven’s initial €850 million bid for thestate-owned company was accepted in June 2015. However it revised its offer, adding conditions that would enable the company to retain part of the purchase price until the sale of its Macedonia unit, which resulted the offer to be rejected by Slovenia.

Cinven said then that it was interested in the acquisition as long as the Macedonian sale went through. However after taking into account regulatory measures by the country’s telecoms regulator, the company has stated that the present regulatory environment will not be investment friendly for Telekom Slovenije.

It added that the recent decision to scrap roaming charges within the EU as well as changes in the operation of Telekom Slovenije were likely to affect the operator’s performance results.

“One of the main reasons Cinven’s withdrawing from the negotiations, as mentioned by Cinven, refers to the highly uncertain business environment in which Telekom Slovenije operates, highlighting the complex nature of the political environment in the country,” added SDH.

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