The Lebanese government has postponed the auction of majority stakes in two state-owned mobile phone companies until early summer, according to a cabinet statement obtained by newswire Reuters on Wednesday. The statement said the deadline for offers had also been pushed back, citing requests from bidders for more time and the delay in Lebanon’s presidential election. Lebanon is selling two-thirds of Alfa and MTC Touch and will offer the remaining shares in an initial public offering (IPO) within a further year. The initial sale is expected to raise as much $7 billion and will go to pay off some of Lebanon’s $41 billion public debt. Lebanon has been without a president since November - part of the country’s worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. The next parliamentary session to elect army chief general Michel Suleiman as president is set for February 11. The vote has been put off repeatedly because of wrangling over the shape of the new government.
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