The board of directors of Russian state-run telecoms holding Svyazinvest has approved a deal which will see Rostelecom, with which it is currently being merged, take a 50% stake in mobile operator Sky Link in exchange for 1.9% of its own…
The board of directors of Russian state-run telecoms holding Svyazinvest has approved a deal which will see Rostelecom, with which it is currently being merged, take a 50% stake in mobile operator Sky Link in exchange for 1.9% of its own shares.
Rostelecom is set to acquire 6.483 million Sky Link shares, while Svyazinvest will receive 56.287 million Rostelecom shares, currently held by the telco’s wholly-owned subsidiary Mobitel, according to a Svyazinvest statement. Svyazinvest’s board has approved the price for the 1.9% Rostelecom stake at Rbs9.4bn (US$290.1m), based upon an independent valuation. Sky Link will retain the remaining 50% of its shares.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) granted its approval to Rostelecom to acquire Sky Link last November.
The exchange of Sky Link shares for Rostelecom shares forms part of the second phase of the latter’s reorganisation. During the first phase, which was completed in April 2011, Rostelecom merged with several Svyazinvest regional operators.
In March this year, then-President Dmitry Medvedev had signed a decree directing a merger between Svyazinvest and Rostelecom and, in May, new President Vladimir directed its completion by April 2013.
That same month, Rostelecom CEO Alexander Provotorov told TelecomFinance the company intends to develop its mobile network.
“We have the largest backbone in every region of Russia, which gives us significant advantage in terms of becoming an integrated operator which provides not only fixed-line, but also mobile services,” he said.
According to its website, Sky Link’s 3G network coverage area spans 36 Russian regions, in which 96% of the federation’s population resides.
