Russian investors interested in Cypriot telco Cyta

Constantinos Herodotou, the government’s newly-appointed head of Privatisations, recently revealed that unnamed Russian investors are interested in acquiring the country’s leading telco, Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta).

Russia’s Prime business news agency cites Mr Herodotou as saying that the official auction for Cyta is yet to be announced, as “the asset needs preparation”.

As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Cypriot authorities andthe European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November 2013, stipulated that the government should present a privatisation plan for a number of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and semi-governmental organisations (SGOs), including Cyta, by the end of December 2013.

The Cypriot government subsequently approved a roadmap for the privatisation process before the deadline expired, and confirmed that the procedure will start in 2016, with Cyta the first company to be privatised.

State spokesperson Christos Stylianides clarified that none of the SOEs and SGOs will be 100% privatised, as the government plans to retain a stake in each one.

Source: Telegeography