Monopoly

Serbia said the sale of 47 state-owned media outlets will be completed by October - although around 30 had not applied for sale after the deadline set by the government to do so had passed.

Shares in those media outlets that have not applied for sale but are not in negative financial state will be divided among the employees.

The Democratic Party of Serbia and the right-wing movement Dveri said on Friday that government's decision to sell Telekom was "scandalous", insisting there was no economic reason for selling a company that earns millions of euros annually.

Ivan Tasovac, Serbia's Minister of Culture and Information, said state-owned media must submit the necessary documentation for their sale immediately and the process of privatization ought to be completed in four months. Media outlets that fail to submit the requisite documents by June 19 risk being shut down.

A large number of enterprises undergoing privatization will file for bankruptcy by July 1, or their employees will be granted shares, says Zeljko Sertic.

Emil Karanikolov, head of the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Agency, has said that the State Agency for National Security (DANS) will be consulted on the privatization of the Central Depository AD.

By Vangelis Mandravelis

OTE telecom is said to be in talks regarding the acquisition of Albanian telecommunications firm Albtelecom, having had a presence in the neighboring country since 2000 through the AMC cell phone company.

"Privatization deadlines will not be extended"

BELGRADE -- The deadlines for privatizing companies that are under restructuring will not be extended, Minister of Economy Zeljko Sertic said on Monday.

Cyprus aims to launch the privatization process for state telecoms company Cyta by May in inviting potential bidders to submit nonbinding expressions of interest, the island?s privatization commissioner said on Friday.

Constantinos Herodotou told a business conference the target date for the completion of the process, which will be in three phases, was the end of 2015.

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Serbia's government would decide who won an important bid to manage a troubled steel mill on Tuesday.

BELGRADE - The privatization of restructuring enterprises cannot be completed by May 31, when the state should stop assisting the firms under the privatization law, so the deadline should be extended, Director of the Privatization Agency Ljubomir Subara said on Tuesday.