The Public Power Corporation (PPC) is considering selling its stake in Tellas, the country's second-largest fixed-line telecom operator, PPC said yesterday.
«PPC is investigating the value of whether it should remain in the telecommunications sector, taking into consideration the European trend, where energy companies entered the telecoms market in the 1990s, only for them to retreat from those operations a decade later,» PPC said in a filing to the Athens bourse.
The company did not provide further details, while PPC officials declined to comment on the announcement. Greek media reported yesterday Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris was in talks with PPC to buy the remaining 49.99 percent in Tellas he doesn't already own.
Sawiris's Weather Investments owns 50 percent plus one share of Tellas. Sawiris has said he wants to buy the remaining Tellas stake. Financial daily Imerisia said he has offered about 150 million euros for the stake, while PPC is asking for 350 million euros.
«PPC is in talks with Sawiris, but there is a huge price gap between what is being asked and what is being offered,» a source close to PPC, who declined to be named, told Reuters. The source said there was no time frame for when talks would end.
(Reuters, 07/06/2007)