Cosmorom's investment bank to be named next week

The investment bank to advise RomTelecom’s’ shareholders on their options for selling the mobile telephony division Cosmorom will be selected by Tuesday, January 27, when the company’s Board of Directors convenes, Communications minister Dan Nica said.

“The fact that we have not seen the report about Cosmorom’s future that Deutsche Bank was supposed to present makes me believe the choice of bank will be different. In any case, we’re talking one of the top five investment banks in the world,” Nica explained.

The Communications Minister specified the institution appointed would have to present the RomTelecom shareholders with the best option for the mobile telephony operator.

“As far as RomTelecom is concerned, the options are either it wants or it does not want to cut its stake, and, if it wants to do it, by how much. As soon as the exact percentage of shares to be sold is set, be it 30 percent, 50 percent or more, the investment bank presents the offers for it,” Nica said.

The minister added again the interest in Cosmorom was very high indeed, as expressed by both telecommunications operators and investment funds.

“I cannot provide any names, because the letter of intent we got reads ‘strictly confidential’,” Nica specified.

He added a meeting with James Hubley, RomTelecom’s CEO was scheduled for today and the talks were supposed to tackle Cosmorom’s options.

“To the Romanian party, things are clear. To the Greek party, they are somewhat more complicated, because the OTE Group, RomTelecom’s majority shareholder is publicly listed and any initiative is bound to impact on the trading of its stock,” the Communications minister explained.

On the other hand, Nica stated that at least 10% in RomTelecom might be floated on the Bucharest Stock Exchange after Cosmorom’s sale.

The Romanian Communications minister yesterday met with his Turkish counterpart Binali Yldirim, to discuss ways to expand the cooperation of the two countries in communications and IT.

“I found out Romania was planning the sale of a GSM operator. As soon as I get back to Turkey, I will inform all operators, including Turkcell, and I hope they will find it to be an interesting project,” the Turkish Transports and Communications minister said.