The new CEO of Russia’s state-controlled Rostelecom has said the company is considering selling more than US$500m of treasury stock to cut debt.
Sergey Kalugin, who replaced Alexander Provotorov as CEO in late March, told media at an informal briefing…
The new CEO of Russia’s state-controlled Rostelecom has said the company is considering selling more than US$500m of treasury stock to cut debt.
Sergey Kalugin, who replaced Alexander Provotorov as CEO in late March, told media at an informal briefing this morning that the telco’s debt level seems “high” to him, adding that it has too many treasury shares. Rostelecom owns about 5% of its own ordinary shares and about 13% of preferred shares, according to a presentation to investors.
While the telco has not yet appointed lead managers for the potential sale, direct investment funds have already shown interest in the shares, he said.
A Rostelecom spokesperson said the potential sale of treasury stock is just one option being looked at, adding that a final decision is yet to be taken.
Rostelecom reported revenues of Rbs321.3bn for 2012, up 7% year-on-year. OIBDA stood at Rbs118.6bn, with an OIBDA margin of 36.9%. Net debt as at 31 December amounted to Rbs203.1bn with a net debt/OIBDA ratio of 1.77x.
