Telefonia Dialog, the third largest telephone operator in this country, may have found a financial backer who will take a minority stake. A letter of intent has been signed and the deal is expected to go through in a few months time.
The company is presently completely owned by copper and silver mining company KGHM. The name of the backer is not known although it is thought that it may be a group of British investment funds attempting to take over the national Czech operator. At the time of writing, however, it should be noted that this is just speculation. Whoever the buyer may be, this is good news for the company and indeed the whole sector.
KGHM took a 100 percent stake in the firm when the Polish national grid PSE pulled out nearly two years ago. At the time it said that it would find a backer within two years for Dialog. For the last year KGHM has been pulling out all the stops to find an investor. The telecoms business has been very expensive, requiring large outlays with no short term returns. A sale became particularly pressing when the core business of KGHM started to go wrong.