Merrill Lynch has stepped up the pace for the troubled privatisation of Bezeq Israel Telecommunication, with a public tender of the Israeli government's 50.1% stake in the fixed-line telecoms company.

The Israeli government hired Merrill at the beginning of this year to handle the sale of its 50.1% stake in Bezeq. Plans for an initial public offering of some or all of the government stake were soon dropped in favour of a sale, preferably to a foreign telecommunications company.