MTS requests approval for a takeover of SMARTS (Russia)MTS, Russia’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, filed a request with the Federal Anti-monopoly Service in order to gain approval for a takeover of smaller rival SMARTS Group.
SMARTS, which has only over 4million subscribers in the Volga region, is looking for a buyer for some time now. According to the firms recent statement the buyer is likely to be one of Russia’s big three cellular operators – MTS, Vimpelcom or MegaFon and the is deal expected to be valued at around USD1 billion-USD1.5 billion.
