$2.5bn Czech telco bid blocked

NEWS The Czech government has rejected all bids for the controlling stake in part state-owned telco Cesky Telecom. Despite strong arguments in favour of a $2.5bn bid from Danish telecoms group TDC, the government rejected the bid for the 78 per cent stake. Orange was thought to be among a number of parties interested in Cesky, though the UK mobile phone operator, owned by France Telecom, was thought to be more interested purely in the company's mobile phone arm, Eurotel. However, the government is keen to sell the entire stake as one concern, rather than break it up and sell divisions separately. Whoever ends up as the eventual owner of Cesky may be able to make a deal with Orange to sell off the mobile arm. However, the latest set back means a deal is unlikely to be completed before the Czech general election in June - which may yet throw up further complications in completing the faltering privatisation.