An information memorandum sent to potential investors in Telefonia Lokalna (TL) by Lubin based KGHM has found almost zero interest despite being sent to around 25 possible buyers.
The copper and silver mining company is trying to sell the company following other difficulties caused by the fall of the price of copper on world markets to around USD1,400 per ton whilst it is costing KGHM USD1,600 per ton to dig it out.
Profits for KGHM in the first three quarter of this year were down by around 90 percent on the figure for all of last year but still came out positive at PLN53.5m. That is the figure for the mother company, by the time the consolidated results for the group are known it is likely to be negative. In the first half of 2001 the group took a PLN66.1m loss.
KGHM has announced that it will go on seeking a buyer for Telefonia Lokalna. The independent telecoms firm is growing quickly but at a cost of around PLN600m in investments this year alone.
The situation may change if KGHM were to sell TL together with its 19.6 percent stake in mobile operator Polkomtel. This might catch the eye of Vodafone or TDI (formerly TeleDanmark).
TDI recently chose not to exercise an option to buy an extra 25 percent in Szeptel, perhaps thinking of a stake in TL which has a much better market position than Szeptel.