Russian mobile giant MegaFon (MCX:MFON) has completed the purchase of GARS, a local exchange carrier serving the B2B market.
Russian mobile giant MegaFon (MCX:MFON) has completed the purchase of GARS, a local exchange carrier serving the B2B market.
MegaFon’s board gave its blessing for the transaction in June, which is part of the operator’s “strategy to develop a second core business” which “will be instrumental in further enhancing the company’s position in the B2B fixed-line market in Moscow”.
Sellers Stayblon Limited and Cyprus-registered Giacomodex Finance Limited are understood to have accepted a low, but undisclosed, price in comparison with other Russian telecoms transactions.
The transaction is MegaFon’s latest bolt-on domestic acquisition. In August, it snapped up the operations of regional carrier SMARTS in the Chuvash Republic and the Samara, Astrakhan and Yaroslavl regions to improve its spectrum holdings.
MegaFon CEO Ivan Tavrin commented: “With this acquisition we plan to further expand our footprint in the B2B wireline market by combining the expertise and experience of both MegaFon and GARS.
“We believe that this transaction forms an ideal combination of businesses allowing us to enhance our value proposition to MegaFon’s and GARS existing and future customers.”