Russia’s Sistema has announced that it will invest over $5billion in Indian telecom Sector (ITS) in the next 3-4 years. Sistema has finalized a deal with Indian telecom services provider Shyam Telelink, the unlisted telecom services arm of the Shyam Telecom Group, to acquire 74% stake in the company.
Indian oil firm ONGC will become its helping hand for acquiring stake in its giant Sakhalin-3 project. Sakhalin-3, Russia’s leading oil and gas offshore fields, contain estimated 800 million metric tonnes of oil and 900 billion cu m of natural gas. Mr. Murli Deroa, Petroleum Minister of India said, “Sistema considers India as a very promising and reliable trade and economic partner and this year they opened its liaison office in New Delhi.” “This opens up new horizons for criss-cross investment between companies of the two countries,” he further added. ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has already acqire 20 per cent stake in Sakhalin-1 oil and gas fields.
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The Russian industrial conglomerate AFK Sistema is reportedly considering the sale of its 50% stake in long-distance operator Multiregional TransitTelecom (MTT), clearing the way for a takeover by local telecoms firm Synterra.
The owner of the remaining 50% stake, Danish businessman Jeffrey Galmond, has already indicated that he is willing to sell. Sistema’s 50% interest is thought to be worth around $400 million. MTT claims a 6.8% share of the Russian domestic and international long-distance market, with revenues of over $1 billion in 2007.
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Sistema, the largest diversified consumer services corporation of Russia is planing to expand its mobile services to Bangladesh and China. Sistema, reportedly acquired licenses for mobile services in border areas of China and is in talks to acquire a local operator in Bangladesh. According to Interfax, Vladimir Evtushenkov, the main owner of Sistema, told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the plans.Sistema which holds majority of shares in Russian operators MTS, SkyLink and Comstar, has recently launched a mobile operator in India.
- October 12th, 2007
- 2:29 pm
Russian holding group Sistema has released a statement advising cellco Vimpelcom and Norwegian group Telenor, which holds a stake in Vimpelcom, to ‘carefully reanalyse’ their possible participation in the tender for Kyrgyz cellco Sky Mobile. Sistema has also called on Morgan Stanley to reconsider its role in brokering the planned sale of Sky, which owns assets whose ownership Sistema disputes. Sistema’s president Alexander Goncharuk said in the statement, ‘We find it highly surprising that a company whose assets were obtained in an illegitimate manner can be offered for sale by such a major and well-respected international investment bank as Morgan Stanley. Interestingly, this same investment bank offered [Sistema’s] MTS [Mobile TeleSystems] the opportunity to buy back the assets that have been misappropriated from it. We urge Vimpelcom, Telenor and others to consider carefully whether participating in a tender of this nature is proper.’
Sistema’s Russian rival Altimo (part of Alfa Group) announced a tender to sell Sky Mobile last month, and is reported to be hoping to raise USD600 million from the sale. Russian cellco Vimpelcom, which is 44%-owned by Altimo, is thought to be the main contender for Sky. Telenor, which holds a 29% stake in Vimpelcom, earlier came out against the deal, citing the legal risks associated with the Kyrgyz GSM operator. MTS was also invited to participate in the auction. Sky Mobile began operating In July 2006 having taken over the network and brand of existing cellco Bitel. The ownership of Bitel’s assets has been a bone of contention between MTS and Altimo since 2005, and the ongoing dispute is highly complex. Any sale of Sky and the disputed assets by Altimo is likely to muddy the waters even further.
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- September 27th, 2007
- 1:00 pm
Russian conglomerate Sistema has acquired a 10 percent stake in Shyam Telelink, an Indian telecommunications operator, for a cash consideration of USD 11.4 million. Sistema intends to increase its stake in Shyam Telelink to 51 percent after receiving approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of India. Upon receipt of this approval, the overall value of the deal may reach USD 58.1 million. Shyam Telelink has obtained a unified license to provide fixed-line and mobile services to corporate and residential customers in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The company also controls 100 percent of the local internet service provider Shyam Internet. Shyam Telelink also owns a developed telecommunications infrastructure which includes 4,000 kilometres of fiber-optic lines.
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Russia’s AFK Sistema group plans to invest USD200 million to create a new mobile TV network. The DVB-H network is expected to be launched next year and will cover 16 cities with populations of over one million, plus the entire Moscow region. The network will be made available not only to subscribers of Sistema’s cellular subsidiary MTS, but also to customers of other operators. Local website Cnews reports that the network deployment is being carried out by Sistema subsidiary Sistema Mass-Media. The firm expects 350,000 subscribers to sign up in the medium term.
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Russian holding company Sistema, which owns a 52.8% stake in leading Russian cellco MTS, still sees a merger with German incumbent Deutsche Telekom (DT) as ‘the best for both sides,’ Sistema’s CEO Alexander Goncharuk told newspaper Handelsblatt, adding however that a deal was unlikely in the near future. ‘We think the combination of two such big companies would create a mega-concern with standing in the American, the European and the Asian market,’ Goncharuk said in the interview. ‘The biggest obstacle to such a merger is political opposition to such cross-border transactions and DT’s difficult situation at the moment,’ said Goncharuk, referring to the ongoing strike which has now entered its second week. He noted that Sistema was not actively pursuing a deal.
Sistema said last year that it would be interested in acquiring a stake in Deutsche Telekom via an asset swap, though it denied holding talks with the German telco. At the time German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck said the sale of the German government’s 15% stake in DT, and the 16% holding of state-owned KfW Bankengruppe, was not up for discussion. Goncharuk said in the interview with Handelsblatt that media reports in recent months regarding plans to swap MTS shares for DT’s Hungarian unit Magyar Telekom were mere speculation.
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- January 23rd, 2007
- 6:47 am
Telecompaper writes…Russian conglomerate Sistema is mulling buying a stake in Telecom Italia (TI), business daily Kommersant reports citing a news agency. The deal may be finalised in March when Russian president Vladimir Putin visits Italy. Sistema is slated to begin talks with the Pirelli Group which owns 18 percent in Telecom Italia. Sistema president Alexander Goncharuk confirmed the company’s interest in TI but said the companies have not yet reached an agreement. In November, Sistema also confirmed interest in a large stake in Deutsche Telekom but talks are rumoured to have ended.
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- January 22nd, 2007
- 10:43 am
Telegeography writes…Russian industrial conglomerate Sistema is reported to be interested in acquiring a minority stake in Telecom Italia from the Pirelli Group. Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted Sistema’s president, Alexander Goncharuk, who said: ‘We are really interested in the company but we have not agreed on anything yet.’ Sistema is looking to expand its telecoms business, which already includes shares in Russia’s largest cellular operator MTS and the largest alternative wireline telco, Comstar UTS. Pirelli is selling part of its 80% stake in Olimpia, a holding company which controls 18% of Telecom Italia. Hinduja of India is also thought to be studying the opportunity of buying into one of Europe’s largest telcos.
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Sistema to invest $5bln in ITS (Russia)
