KIEV, Ukraine—A working group uniting officials from various Ukrainian ministries recommended to sell a 25-percent stake in major Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC), in which the state-run Ukrtelecom currently holds 51 percent.
Representatives of the Finance Ministry, Economics Ministry, State Property Fund, and Communications Committee attended the meeting. The recommendation is yet to be approved by the government.
Representatives of the Communications Committee did not oppose the sale, although earlier Ukrtelecom was against the plan, saying it would damage the investment attractiveness of Ukrtelecom, which is to float capital.
In May, the Ukrainian government decided to sell the whole state-owned 51-percent stake in UMC and assessed the price at not less than US$200 million. Wireless market experts said Deutsche Telekom, an UMC co-founder, is a potential buyer.
UMC was founded in 1992 and has invested more than US$300 million in the business since then. The carrier operates GSM and NMT technologies in more than 250 Ukrainian cities. Besides Ukrtelecom, its shareholders include Dutch KPN, Deutsche Telekom and Danish Teledanmark with 16.33 percent each.
