The sale of a minority stake in France Telecom, which would have resulted in France’s biggest ever privatization, came to a de facto halt yesterday as the new left-wing government ponders on what to do. A France Telecom spokesman said the Initial Public Offering had been suspended until the new-elected administration took a decision. If the right-wing coalition had held on to its majority in the French assembly the sale of the stake would have resumed on June 5 after being postponed for four weeks because of the election. Some financial analysts believe the sale will take place in September at the earliest but others are more skeptical since the French Communist Party, which will be part of the coalition government, is utterly against it. This skepticism was confirmed when the leader of the communist trade union CGT told France Inter radio the privatization of France Telecom has nothing to do with the need to develop the sector and would be bad news for the country’s assets.
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