MegaFon yet to decide on delisting from Moscow Exchange - head
MOSCOW. March 21 (Interfax) - MegaFon , which delisted from the London Stock Exchange at the beginning of October 2018, has still not made a decision with regard to its shares on the Moscow Exchange .
"Following the offer, 0.8% of our capital remains on the Moscow Exchange. MegaFon's board of directors and its shareholders may consider delisting from the Moscow Exchange in the future, taking into consideration such factors as the volume of shares in free float and the number that weren't involved in the buyback. There is not currently such a decision," MegaFon head Gevork Vermishyan told journalists.
The company announced its delisting from the LSE last year. The price per share under the buyback of 18.6% of shares was 659.26 rubles. Following the buyback, MegaFon Finance (a 100% subsidiary), which bought back the shares, converted the GDRs it had acquired into shares, becoming the owner of 139.6 million shares in MegaFon. Its stake in MegaFon, including shares belonging to its affiliates, was 78.84%. At the end of December, MegaFon Finance sent a mandatory offer for the purchase of 131,212,843 ordinary shares of MegaFon.
The second offer involved the buyback of 20.36% of shares, including 18.96% belonging to Gazprombank , which fully divested itself of MegaFon capital.
Now, MegaFon Finance and affiliated companies control 99.2% of all shares.
"As a result, MegaFon Finance has the right to demand that the other shareholders sell it their shares, and it is considering the advisability of making use of that right," MegaFon said. If the company decides not to do so, minority holders will still be able to demand that MegaFon Finance buy their shares.
"We're expecting that the issue of the remaining ordinary shares will be solved by the middle or end of summer 2019. Irrespective of whether or not the remaining shares are bought up, MegaFon will essentially become the 100% subsidiary of LLC AF Telecom Holdings, which is currently our majority shareholder," the company said.