Turkish consortium Koc Holding/ Turk Telekom, also-ran in the sale of landline telecoms operator Bulgarian Telecommunications Company BTC, is holding talks with American billionaire George Soros, investment bank JP Morgan, US-based venture capital fund Carlyle group and WB's International Financial Corporation on their possible participation in the consortium after it acquires Bulgaria's telecom, Ali Koc, Koc Information Technologies Group President, said. Koc Holding owns 65% of the consortium's capital; the remainder is controlled by Turk Telecom. We will soon be able to shape our vision about the consortium, Ali Koc said, adding they do not plan to reduce their participation below 51%. Last week a three-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court overruled the decision of the Supervisory Council to scrap the EUR 210 M sale of a 65-percent stake in the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company BTC to U.S. private equity fund Advent. Joanna James, Advent International managing director Central and Eastern Europe, announced that Viva Ventures, wholly owned unit by Advent International, is ready to consider sweetening its bid to EUR 280 M for 65% of the telecom's shares and allocate last year's dividend to the state budget. Before the court ruling Viva Ventures insisted that the 2002 dividend must go to the selected buyer and not the state. In the opinion of Ali Koc the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court neither hurts nor favours any of the two bidders for the telecom. He stressed that the ruling does not suspend the negotiations with the Turkish tie-in.