Ljubljana - Telekom Slovenije rejected on Monday reports it had knowingly engaged in an allegedly harmful and overpaid acquisition of software developer Actual I.T. in March this year. The state-owned telco said the EUR 30 million deal, which is still subject to suspensive conditions, had undergone a due diligence check and two independent valuations.

Reacting to leaked minutes of management and supervisory board sessions which the news portal Necenzurirano said showed the company had ignored warnings about the agreed price being substantially too high, Telekom wrote the acquisition had already been mulled before the current management had taken over and was in line with the telco's strategy.

"The group's strategy focuses on digitisation at all levels of the business, and one of the key strategic orientations is to grow in the area of information and communication services, both organically and through the consolidation of the Slovenian information and communication market," wrote Telekom, which got a new management, led by Cvetko Sršen, under the previous government in March 2021.

The telco added the deal was still subject to suspensive conditions and would have cost EUR 20 million had it been wrapped up before the end of last year. It spoke of the acquisition representing an important milestone in the implementation of Telekmo's strategy.

Actual I.T. provides services and develops software platforms for project, asset & lifecycle management and process automation for the energy, transport & logistics, industry, oil & gas, architecture and construction sectors.

While Necenzurirano reported that a valuation suggesting Actual I.T. to be worth much less had been ignored, Telekom said that independent valuations of the deal had been conducted by two audit firms and due diligence carried out.

Necenzurirano moreover said Sršen and the members of his team had known all along the deal to be imprudent. This is reportedly also proven by reports of pressure exerted on Telekom staff in relation to the acquisition, but the company said that and internal oversight procedures had concluded no such pressure could be ascertained.

The state holds 62.54% directly in Telekom with a further 9.84% held through the state run-Pension Fund Management (KAD, 5.59%) and Slovenian Sovereign Holding (4.25%).

KAD commented last Friday on some of the decisions of Telekom's current management and called for a general meeting that would have shareholders decide on an overhaul of the supervisory board.

It said it wanted "new supervisory board members who were not involved in the adoption of past decisions to review these and monitor the impact of certain past investments or decisions". KAD cited the acquisition of Actual I.T. as an example.