Serbian Telecoms Sell-Off Conflict of Interest Denied

Financial advisory firm Lazard told BIRN that it has not signed a strategic partnership deal with US investment fund Apollo Management, a potential buyer of Telekom Srbija, contrary to allegations in Serbian media.

"Lazard never formed a strategic partnership with Apollo," said Richard Creswell, Lazard senior vice-president at Lazard.

"In 2008 the idea of forming a strategic partnership was explored but not implemented," Creswell added.

The conflict of interest claims were published by the Pistaljka news portal on November 13. The Pistaljka report alleged that Lazard and Apollo signed a deal in 2008 to form a partnership for private equity deals in Europe.

It also claimed that Apollo and Lazard worked together on three different occasions this year.

According to Pistaljka, Lazard acted as a financial advisor in Apollo's takeover of two companies - Verallia, a French glass manufacturer, in June, and OM Group Incorporated in October.

It also said they worked together on an unsuccessful attempt by Apollo to buy RCS Capital in August.

Lazard declined to answer BIRN's questions about its business dealings with Apollo this year.

The proposed sale of Telekom Srbija has attracted major public attention because it is the most profitable state-owned company, bringing in around 140 million euro per year.

The Telekom Srbija sell-off process

The government commission deciding on the bids has 14 days to determine whether offers are technically correct and whether the offered price is satisfactory.

If there is no any acceptable offer, then the Commission may seek to offer amendments.

Then negotiations with the bidder or bidders that made a satisfactory offer starts.

The...