Serbia’s privatisation agency issued a public invitation for bidders to make non-binding offers for a controlling stake in Telekom Srbija.

In a statement, the agency said potential bidders have until 2 August to put in offers for the 58 per cent stake, but only companies with assets of at least €2 billion, or reported revenue of over €500 million, will be able to participate in the process.

The government is Telekom Srbija’s single largest shareholder, while 20 per cent is held by the company itself. The rest of the entity is held by small shareholders as well as current and former employees.

Telekom Srbija is one of the more attractive state-owned enterprises on offer in the country, after reporting a net profit of RSD15.7 billion (€144 million) in 2014. The company also holds controlling stakes in Bosnia’s second largest operator Telekom Srpske and M:Tel in Montenegro.

The state last attempted to sell the fixed and mobile player in 2011, but rejected a €1.1 billion offer from Telekom Austria for a 51 per cent stake for being too low.

Serbia, which is a candidate for EU membership, is seeking to offload the company to stabilise its finances and reach targets on a three year loan deal with the International Monetary Fund.

According to GSMA Intelligence, Telekom Srbija is the country’s market leader with over 4.7 million mobile connections, which is forecast to reach over 5 million by mid-2018. Serbia has three active operators, and reached 9.7 million connections in Q4 2014.

In the 1990s, the Serbian government sold stakes in Telecom Srbija to both Telecom Italia and Greece’s OTE, but bought them back in 2002 and 2012 respectively.