The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a resolution on privatization of Ukrtelecom, the largest telecommunication company in Ukraine, at its meeting on September 27.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov announced this at a news briefing, un.ua says.
“The resolution on the privatization [of Ukrtelecom] has been adopted. I have signed required documents. We launch the privatization,” he said.
Azarov voiced hope that the privatization process on Ukrtelecom will be completed by the end of 2010.
All the state’s 92.79% stake in Ukrtelecom will be offered for privatization.
The prime minister did not specify whether the terms of the privatization of Ukrtelecom have been approved or not.
According to the Cabinet of Ministers directive No. 1884 of September 27, the government accepted the State Property Fund’s proposal to sell a 25% stake + 1 share in Ukrtelecom ahead of schedule.
In addition, the government accepted the State Property Fund’s proposal to amend the plan for floatation of Ukrtelecom’s shares, particularly to sell a 92.79% stake (17,376,189,488 shares) via an auction-based open competition.
The Cabinet of Ministers cancelled its directive No. 344 of August 9, 2001, that reserved ownership of a 25% stake + 1 share in Ukrtelecom for the state and the Cabinet of Ministers directive No. 828 of July 17, 2009, that authorized the Transport and Communications Ministry to manage the corporate rights of the company.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Cabinet of Ministers planned to consider the issue of privatization of Ukrtelecom at its meeting on September 22. However, the government postponed the consideration of the issue.
First Vice Prime Minister Andrii Kliuev said the decision to postpone the approval of the resolution accounted for drawbacks in the draft resolution of the government.
The State Property Fund announced in early August that it planned to privatize 92.8% of the shares in Ukrtelecom in September.
Ukrtelecom has a 78.5% share of the fixed-line telephone market in Ukraine and provides services to 9.9 million subscribers.
