Ex-U.S. Official Pulls Bid for Kosovo Telecom Stake
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Version 0 of 1. An investment fund run by Madeleine K. Albright, the former American secretary of state, has withdrawn its bid for a majority stake in Kosovo’s state telecommunications company, an executive from the fund, Albright Capital Management, has confirmed. The withdrawal came before the Jan. 31 deadline for bids from the five consortiums on the short list of buyers for the stake in the company, PTK. It also followed growing scrutiny in Kosovo and abroad about the possibility of conflicts of interest or special treatment for the fund run by Dr. Albright, who played an important role in the 1999 intervention that led to the separation of Kosovo from Serbia and its declaration of independence in 2008. “We evaluate transactions in emerging markets on a constant basis and must decide among many potentially interesting opportunities in light of our resources and capital,” Nelson Oliveira, managing director and general counsel of Albright Capital Management, wrote Wednesday in an e-mailed statement to The International Herald Tribune, responding to a query about the status of the bid. “In October, we decided to pursue other opportunities that we believed presented greater odds of success for our investors.” The withdrawal had not been officially announced by the company or Kosovo’s government. According to Mr. Oliveira’s statement, an announcement had not been made because of the confidentiality required by the tender process. But the fund decided to confirm that it had ended its bid “since information regarding our withdrawal from the process is now public,” he wrote, referring to news reports in Kosovo based on anonymous sources. Many analysts in Kosovo see the withdrawal as more of a face-saving retreat from a chaotic and tarnished process under increasing domestic and international scrutiny than a calculated result of number-crunching. While Dr. Albright is viewed by many in Kosovo as a national hero for her leading role in the country’s creation, the deal was “politically too complicated,” said Agron Demi, executive director of the GAP Institute for Advanced Studies in Pristina, the Kosovo capital. PTK is Kosovo’s largest asset, and public expectations are that the sale price — expected to be $400 million to $800 million — will be less than its true value. Mr. Demi expects that half of the employees will need to be laid off in order to modernize the company. An opposition political party has found traction by leading protests against the privatization. “Even if she had won, everyone would have doubted that she won on the basis of her bid,” Mr. Demi said. Because of the public lack of confidence in the government and perceptions of widespread corruption, the public “sees everyone who makes a deal with the government as corrupt,” Mr. Demi said. Besides domestic opposition to the poor management of the privatization process, increased international attention has also pushed Dr. Albright away, said Lumir Abdixhiku, executive director of the Riinvest Institute for Develoment Research in Pristina. “I don’t see Albright risking her image by investing in a highly doubtful process in Kosovo,” Mr. Abdixhiku said. Without parliamentary or public support, the privatization was pushed through by the government as part of the national budget. Politicized corporate management, corruption scandals and lack of transparency increased public opposition to the way the privatization is being carried out, Mr. Abdixhiku said. “It’s our fault,” said Mr. Abdixhiku, noting that many serious investors would shy away from such a process. “The government hasn’t done its homework.” |