ETB shares fall as investor search continues

Colombia’s state-run Empresa de Telecomunicaciones (ETB) saw its worst intra-day price in two weeks as its search for a partner continues.

ETB dropped by 3.6% to 993 pesos, the lowest since November 12.

The company had postponed the date when it plans to sell a stake to the winning bidder by almost two months.

Carlos Eduardo Gonzales, an analyst at Medellin brokerage Bolsa y Renta said the process could have been delayed by a lack of interested bidders.

“The delay is extremely negative, something had to have happened, we still think it will arrive at a happy ending”, Gonzales said.

ETB began its search for a partner in July.

Meanwhile in Medellin, the telecom unit of Empresas Publicas de Medellin (EPM) sold COP300 billion worth of inflation-linked bonds on Friday.

Half of those sold were as five-year bonds returning 3.99 percentage points over the Colombian price index (CPI) with the remaining being 10-year bonds yielding 5.10 percentage points above the CPI.

EPM plans to use the funds to help finance its COP2.7 trillion investment schemes for the years 2010-2015.

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