European financial group Cinven has hiked up its offer to acquire state-owned Telekom Slovenije after politicians criticised authorities for selling the company too cheaply, Reuters reports.

Cinven has been in negotiations to acquire Telekom Slovenije since April, and the group remains the sole bidder for the operator despite reported interest from Deutsche Telekom.

Cinven has now increased its offer to €130 a share, from €110 a share, subsequently increasing the deal value to €850 million should the full sum be paid out, amounting to €1.22 billion including debt.

Slovenian investment fund SDH is coordinating the sale and said talks were still ongoing, with a final decision expected at the end of May.

If Cinven’s €1.22 billion offer is accepted, it will equal 6.2 times the company’s expected earnings of €198 million before EBITDA for 2015. This is significantly higher than Deutsche Telekom paid for a 49 per cent in Slovakia Telekom this week in terms of valuation, which represented just 3.8 times the group’s expected earnings.

Telekom Slovenije is the country’s leading mobile player with a market value of approximately €712 million. The government decided to privatise the company in 2013, and is one of 15 state-owned companies up for sale. So far, only four have been sold.

Cinven has vowed to significantly invest in the company’s network and expand into 4G if it is successful with the proposed acquisition.