The Croatian government's sale to the public of shares in the country's top telecommunications company was oversubscribed five times, the government said. The government was selling a 32.5% share in Hrvatske Telekomunikacije d.d. (T-Com), one of the most profitable firms in Croatia and only the second such to be sold in a public tender, "Croatia Today' reports.

The price per share was set at 265 kuna (EUR 36). Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec acknowledged that the price was purposely set low "so that we enable citizens to make profits." Analysts estimate the real value of a T-Com share is about 450 kuna (EUR 62). The government reserved a 25% share in the company for individual Croatians, with 7.5% for institutional investors.

T-Com is controlled by Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG, which bought a 51% share in 2001. The prospect of swift and certain profit triggered an unprecedented interest from ordinary Croats: about 358,000 of them sought to buy the shares - five times the offer. Croatians originally had priority in buying shares up to a value of 38,000 kuna (EUR 5,205), but the government decided to more than halve that to ensure that all bidders would get at least some shares.

Bids from institutional investors exceeded the offer even more dramatically - foreign investors 27 times and local investors nine times. The shares will be listed at London and Zagreb stock exchanges as of Friday, when the tender officially closes. The government expects to make about HRK 7bn (EUR 959mn) from the sale and is expected to spend most of it on making up pension payments that were frozen by a cash-strapped government 14 years ago.