AFK Sistema not to bid for govt stake in Rostelecom
MOSCOW. Jan 29 (Interfax) - AFK Sistema holding will not be in the running to buy a government stake in Rostelecom if the telco is privatized, Sistema's core owner, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, told Interfax on the sidelines of the economic forum in Davos.
"We won't be buying," he said, adding "no man ever steps in the same river twice."
"If you think that the number of problems has decreased or that they have changed in the time since we sold a blocking stake in Svyazinvest you are mistaken. Therefore we won't be involved," Yevtushenkov said.
In 2006, Sistema acquired 25% plus one share in Svyazinvest, which then owned Rostelecom and seven interregional communications companies, from Leonard Blavatnik and Viktor Vekselberg via subsidiary Comstar UTS. Sistema's attempts to gain access to the day-to-day management of the state holding were not successful. Like previous owners of blocking take, Sistema did not expect Svyazinvest to be privatized. In 2010, Sistema sold its stake in Svyazinvest to Rostelecom in an asset swap. The package, which had been in the hands of several prominent businessmen since 1997, including George Soros, who called it "the worst investment of my life," returned to the government.
In October of last year, Svyazinvest ceased to exist and merged with Rostelecom. The latter is included in the privatization program for 2014-2016, and there are plans to name Sberbank as the organizer of the sale of s state stake in the telco. The organizer must determine whether the deal will take place this year or next, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich has said. He said he believes the potential value of Rostelecom has not been seen, but will grow when the joint venture with Tele2, to which the company will transfer its mobile assets, is launched.
Additionally, issues have not yet been resolved concerning servicing special consumers, in particular security agencies, in the case of privatization, Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov has said. "We have not yet solved these issues, and until we do, privatization will not be possible," he said. The former communications minister, Leonid Reiman, has called the negative position of security organizations the main obstacle in Svyazinvest's privatization.
