SERTIC: Privatization model for Telekom by the end of May

The minister of trade, Zeljko Sertic, said yesterday that in the next couple of days, Telekom should decide on whether it will hire as privatization advisor French Lazard and announced that in two month it should be known how Telekom will go private.

-The executive board at Telekom, I think, should have decided yesterday on acceptance of French Lazard (which applied at the competition) and within a few days, the contract should be signed. The decision is up to the management of Telekom, Sertic said for RTS.

He said it was planned that within 60 days as of the moment of contract signing, the plan of how legal and financial consulting will be implemented should be known.

Thus, in two months, we will have very clear situation with Telekom- Sertic said.

He said this year, through organization of 36 big public companies, totals loss will decrease for RSD 35 billion.

When it comes to companies in restructuring which must go private until June 1, since until then governmental help will stop, Sertic said that the government, for a part out of 104 companies which remained in restructuring, not counting the ones which have already been listed for bankruptcy, will try to make a good deal with IMF, the World Bank and other important institutions to prolong a bit deadlines, but only operationally.

He said that it is about, for instance, companies such as RTB Bor, Petrohemija and others which have high debts and a large number of people.

Sertic added that 80 firms with publicly-owned capital will go private by the end of the year.