Oligarch Alisher Usmanov has boosted his stake in the holding company that controls Russian mobile operator MegaFon from 82% to 95.5%.
Garsdale Services Investment, which owns 50% plus one share in MegaFon, acquired 13.5% of its own shares…
Oligarch Alisher Usmanov has boosted his stake in the holding company that controls Russian mobile operator MegaFon from 82% to 95.5%.
Garsdale Services Investment, which owns 50% plus one share in MegaFon, acquired 13.5% of its own shares from Telconet Capital, owned by businessmen Sergei Adonyev and Albert Advolyan, USM Holdings said in a statement. Usmanov owns 100% of USM Holdings which, in turn, now holds 95.5% of Garsdale.
Russian state-backed Russian Technologies owns the remaining 4.5% of Garsdale.
A spokesperson for USM Holdings declined to comment on the value of the deal, saying the information is not public. However, Russian newspaper Kommersant valued the deal at about US$1.5bn.
Earlier this week, MegaFon – Russia’s second largest mobile operator – announced the closure of its acquisition of smaller rival Scartel (Yota) from Garsdale for US$1.18bn plus US$566m in debt.
MegaFon contends the deal will make it the nation’s largest 4G operator and allow it to better compete with rivals MTS and VimpelCom.
