Whose funds, besides BH Telecom, are interested in buying Telemach? What would be the benefits, and is it a risk for us to buy if we heard about a difference in the estimate of one hundred million euros? BH Telecom’s CEO Amel Kovačević spoke to Mreža about this, as well as political criticism.
Hired consulting firms
At the very beginning, BH Telecom’s CEO Amel Kovačević explained the hiring of renowned consulting firms that deal with auditing and that, he says, have acquisition experts.
Furthermore, Kovačević explains, analyses have been done that facilitate making the best decision.
“If two auditing firms make an estimate and leave a price range of one hundred million euros, it’s not exactly ten million, so it doesn’t matter,” said the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Nermin Nikšić. How such a difference came about, Kovačević explained:
“There are different transactions that took place on the market and in those different transactions different types of prices were achieved that have a certain range. Our transaction is also in that market range.”
The issue of the reality of the situation
Owners have the right and the ability to set goals and demands, Kovačević explained, saying that it is not about the price, but a ‘process of accepting the reality we are in’.
“So, we have one seller who set the price they are asking of us. We negotiated what we could negotiate at this point and we came to some kind of mutually acceptable solution that we offer to our owners,” he added.
Political criticism
When asked how he responds to political criticism, Kovačević said that he would ‘discuss all kinds of insinuations where such things are the place to discuss’.
“The two-year process lasted in such a way that all participants were familiar with all the elements of the process – owners, management, supervisory board. We are preparing this transaction in such a way that we are all together ready to take on this responsibility and say that this is something good for BH Telekom, for the state of BiH and that there are absolutely no insinuations here. We firmly and resolutely say there is no corruption here,” concluded Kovačević.
Without guarantors and with the support of the union
The director of BH Telecom precisely answered that Telecom can, based on its capacities, carry out the project to the end without guarantors.
Speaking about employees, the director said that there is quality communication and that the workers’ union supports the project for which, Kovačević claims, ‘BH Telecom has no negative consequences’.
Profit assessment
The importance of the market and competitiveness, the director explained, are key for BH Telecom.
“If we do not achieve consolidation at least in our market, we will find ourselves in a position where we will not be able to respond to the capital-intensive industry in which we are located.”
“The strength of Telecom is changing. If we do not make quality investment cycles, if we do not prepare well for the future, then we will not be in a position to have the strength we need, to respond to the competition in a quality way,” concluded Kovačević.
Risks of the purchase
The risks have been analyzed in detail and deeply, the director emphasizes.
“We get the so-called economy of scale with this. We get new clients, income that is guaranteed 100%, because people receive bills. And then we would manage, through various types of synergy between the two companies, to reduce the costs we have, the investments we have, because they are doubled like this. And we buy time. Our biggest enemy, at the moment, is time. We would know what we need to do, we would have the money to do it, however, we do not have that time.”
Who else is interested in the purchase?
“What we know is that in this transaction and in the qualification process that took place in the past period of time, the regional players present from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Emirates, in cooperation with some local neighboring players, were interested,” Kovačević replied.
At the very end, the CEO of BH Telecom emphasized his conviction in the quality of this project.
“We believe deeply in this process. This is something that is certainly good for BH Telecom. This is something that is based on the market, there is no corruption here and this process happened in the best possible way,” he concluded.
