Austria Delays Decision on Sale of Stake in Boehler-Uddeholm
04.11.2003 09:40

Austrian officials decided to postpone a decision on the sale of the government's 25 percent stake in Boehler-Uddeholm AG, a specialty steelmaker, a spokeswoman for the OIAG state assets agency said. The supervisory board of the agency met today to decide on the sale. The country may sell the stake through a secondary public offering on the stock exchange or to a group of Austrian financial investors who on Friday made an offer for the stake, which is worth about 135 million euros ($155 million). ``We need to clarify some details of the offer from the Austrian group of investors,'' spokeswoman Viktoria Kickinger said in a telephone interview. ``We want to proceed with the sale as soon as possible.'' She couldn't say whether the sale will still take place this year as planned by the agency. Kickinger declined to comment on the details that need further discussion.