The Czech government approved the sale of a 51 percent stake in Cesky Telecom to Spain's Telefonica for 82.62 billion crowns ($3.6 billion), above market expectations in the region's largest equity deal this year. Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka told a news conference on Wednesday that all 18 ministers had voted in favour of the bid for Eastern Europe's most profitable phone company and that he expected the proceeds from the sale to be paid around mid-year.
"The government considers the price as a success of the privatisation process. The price was by 25 percent higher than the price on the stock exchange," he told reporters.
The Telefonica bid was priced at 502 crowns per share, while the stock traded on Wednesday at 448 crowns, up just over 1 percent on the session.
Telefonica outbid its rivals in the auction - Swisscom and Belgacom. A bid from a consortium backed by France Telecom was rejected last week.
Sobotka said he expected a deal to be signed in the coming days, putting an end to the often acrimonious sale process, which had failed once and had split the cabinet on whether to float the shares on public markets or sell directly to a strategic bidder.
Government and central bank officials have said funds from the sale will be put into a special account at the central bank to keep from putting upward pressure on the crown currency.
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