Blackstone in government talks over Latvia telco bid

Blackstone has met newly elected Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis in a bid to persuade the government to reverse its decision to block the US buyout group's 290m lats (€413m) bid for national telecommunications group Lattelecom.

The Latvian Government, which granted provisional approval for Blackstone’s acquisition of a 51% stake in the business in August, shelved the deal following the election of the new Prime Minister last month. Godmanis confirmed the decision in a press conference yesterday.

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