Bouygues out in Tunisia

Bouygues Télécom of France has pulled out of the race to win a 35% stake in Tunisia’s state-owned telecoms monopoly Tunisie Télécom. Bouygues said in a statement: “After studying the dossier, we decided not to go on with the bidding.” A Dow Jones report suggests that there are now only eight firms left in the bidding out of the 13 which originally expressed an interest. Companies still in the running include France Télécom and Vivendi Universal, while Bouygues joins Telefónica among those which have opted not to bid. The 35% stake in Tunisie Télécom is expected to raise around EUR1.3 billion, with the winning bidder likely to be announced before the end of March.