Czechs get 5 bids for Cesky stake

The Czech privatization agency received five preliminary bids for a majority stake in the country's dominant telecommunications company, an official said Monday. The government plans to sell its 51.1 percent stake in Cesky Telecom, estimated to be worth about 60 billion koruny, or $2.6 billion. Three telecommunications companies - the Belgian telecommunications provider Belgacom, SwissCom of Switzerland and Telefónica of Spain - as well as two financial consortia are among the bidders, said a National Property Fund spokeswoman, Petra Krainova. She said the agency would recommend that the government consider all five bids.