ECONOMY

In Brief

Orascom expresses interest in TIM Hellas Egyptian phone group Orascom Telecom could bid for Greece’s mobile operator TIM Hellas, its chairman, Naguib Sawiris, said in Milan yesterday. In December, Sawiris had said he was considering a bid for Greece’s third-largest mobile operator through Weather Investments. «We want to do our IPO first, to have currency, so we can then talk about the next step,» he said when asked about possible timing for any TIM Hellas bid, adding that he considered the Greek firm a complementary asset in the Mediterranean region. Orascom used Weather Investments as a vehicle to buy Italian telecoms operator Wind from utility Enel last year in a deal worth a total of more than 12 billion euros – one of Europe’s biggest leveraged buyouts. Orascom operates in the Middle East and Africa and together with HTIL cover some 2 billion people. (Reuters) Intracom still talking with Sistema Greece’s largest telecoms equipment-maker Intracom is still in exploratory talks with Russia’s Sistema on possible cooperation in the telecoms sector, it said in a stock market filing yesterday. In October, Intracom said it was discussing all forms of cooperation with Sistema, which owns Russia’s biggest mobile phone firm, MTS. News of an imminent deal had driven Intracom’s shares up by about 25 percent since the start of the year. The shares hit a fresh year-to-date high of 7 euros on Tuesday. Analysts said Intracom’s activities in Southeast Europe complement Sistema’s portfolio of telecom services and solutions in Eastern Europe. (Reuters) Germanos Mobile telephone retailer Germanos said yesterday it has agreed to sell its 20 percent stake in Uzbekistan mobile operator Unitel to Russia’s Vimpel Communications. Germanos said VimpelCom is to buy 100 percent of Unitel for a total of $200 million euros. VimpelCom will pay Germanos $40 million for the stake, which Germanos bought in September 2004 for $14.7 million. VimpelCom’s acquisition of Unitel was subject to Uzbek regulatory approval, but was expected to be completed by mid-February 2006, Germanos said. (AP) Serb natural gas Serbia’s natural gas company Srbijagas said yesterday Russia’s Gasprom has warned of a 25 percent reduction in gas supplies to Serbia and the country will face problems if the cuts drag on. «This morning we received a statement from Gasprom that they will cut gas supplies by 25 percent,» Laza Djurdjevic, a director at Srbijagas, told SeeNews. «If that is just for day or two, we will be able to substitute the gas with other fuel with big consumers, such as the heating plants, but if the cuts persist, we will face serious problems,» he said, adding that Serbia had no alternative supplies. (SeeNews)

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