Cinven's purchase of Telekom Slovenia delayed by hitch

(Adds protest against privatisation in paragraphs 3-4)

By Marja Novak

LJUBLJANA, June 11 (Reuters) - A deal for British investment fund Cinven to buy Telekom Slovenia has not yet been finalised because of haggling over an amendment to Cinven's bid.

SDH, the body which coordinates privatisations in Slovenia, told Reuters on Thursday that talks with Cinven were continuing and were expected to be concluded within a week. The deal values Slovenia's largest telecoms company at up to 850 million euros ($957 million).

Several hundred people gathered in the centre of Ljubljana later on Thursday to protest against the sale of Telekom and other state-owned companies. The protest was organised by the opposition United Left party and several civil society groups.

"Privatisation is bad because it usually leads to a reduction of workforce while private owners do not invest in the company and the local community but only seek their own profits," Andraz Mali, one of the organisers of the protest, told Reuters.

SDH had on Wednesday agreed to Cinven's initial bid, filed on May 20, for Telekom. However, it rejected an amendment to the offer that it said had been added later, saying the sale contract with Cinven therefore had still to be completed.

"Cinven considers the amendment an integral part of the offer, without which Cinven would not be able to proceed towards completing this transaction," Cinven said in a statement.

Neither side has given details of the amendment. Local media reported it would allow Cinven to retain a part of the purchase price until local regulators approve two other deals -- Telekom's purchase of Slovenian mobile phone operator Debitel and its sale of its Macedonian business.

According to sources, Cinven is offering to pay between 110 and 130 euros per Telekom share, depending upon Telekom's performance and the outcome of litigation against Telekom.

That would value the whole of Telekom at between 719 million and 850 million euros.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) of Telekom closed 0.53 percent higher at 98.5 euros in Thursday trade, while the blue-chip SBI index gained 0.1 percent.

Cinven is bidding for 72.75 percent of Telekom but would later have to purchase the rest of the shares at the same price, as required by Slovenian legislation.

Telekom is the largest of 15 companies earmarked for privatisation in 2013. So far four of those companies have been sold. ($1 = 0.8878 euros) (Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Keith Weir and David Clarke (Toronto: CKI.TO - news) )