Former Pharmacy Chain 36.6 chief, ex-Vimpelcom manager Calmes to head Tele2 Russia
MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax) - Scandinavian telecom holding Tele2 has appointed Jere Calmes the new CEO of Tele2 Russia, effective February 11, Tele2 said in a press release.
"Jere Calmes has a strong background from his Russia-based roles as President and CEO at Pharmacy Chain 36.6 and Executive Vice President and General Manager VimpelCom Moscow. He has also held senior management positions at Wind Telecommunicazione SpA, ECMS MobiNil and Motorola Inc. More recently, Jere Calmes was Managing Director at Fast Lane Ventures. Jere Calmes has been a member of the Tele2 Board of Directors since May 2008," the press release said.
During his time at Pharmacy Chain 36.6 from December 2007 to September 2009, Calmes managed to slash the company's accounts payable from $292 million to $149.5 million, as well as to strike agreements to restructure loans, sell non-core assets and start optimizing the chain.
"Russia is Tele2's largest market and its future success is crucial. Many exciting opportunities and challenges lie ahead so having Jeres' experience and knowledge as a part of my Leadership team will be a tremendous resource for Tele2's future achievements in Russia," Tele2 CEO Mats Granryd is quoted as saying in the press release.
Dmitry Strashnov, the former CEO of Tele2 Russia, resigned last December. Mamuka Markhuliya, the director for corporate issues and legal support at Tele2 Russia, was the temporary acting CEO of the company.
Strashnov had headed Tele2 Russia since July 2009. Industry sources previously told Interfax that Strashnov was being considered as the new future chief of Rostelecom if Alexander Provotorov, the current president and general director of the government-run operator, decides to leave. The Russian government drafted a directive on his resignation, but the presidential administration rejected it.
During Strashnov's time at Tele2 Russia, the company's subscriber base skyrocketed from 10 million to over 22 million users. However, the company did not manage to get a positive decision from Russian regulators to introduce technological neutrality in the range of 1,800 MHz, which would have allowed Tele2 Russia to build a 4G network in Russia.
Meanwhile, Tele2 Russia has been an object of interest on the part of its rivals. Rostelecom has been in talks to merge its mobile assets with Tele2 for around a year now. In addition, MegaFon is potentially interested in buying individual Tele2 subsidiaries, as the head of USM Advisors Ivan Streshinsky said at the end of last year (USM Advisors manages assets belonging to Alisher Usmanov, who is MegaFon's main owner).
Furthermore, Usmanov's structures might be interested in a deal to divide Tele2's assets between MegaFon and other "big three" players - for example, Vimpelcom, a telecom market source told Interfax.
In January, business daily Vedomosti reported that the Garsdale holding (82% owned by Usmanov and MegaFon's main shareholder) was discussing with Vimpelcom and Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) the possibility of jointly buying Tele2 Russia. According to the newspaper, the companies were considering a scenario in which Garsdale acquires Tele2 Russia and later transfers a portion of its regional assets to Vimpelcom and MTS. Garsdale, however, denied this information.
"Garsdale holding did not hold last year and is not currently holding any negotiations with any of the abovementioned parties on purchasing the Russian business of mobile operator Tele2," the holding said.
In December, Granryd told Interfax that Tele2 is interested in keeping its business in Russia.
"We have already been in Russia for ten years, and we want to be there for the next ten years," Granryd said. He did not comment on information about talks to sell Tele2's Russian assets or an alliance between Tele2 and one of the local players.
At present, Tele2 Russia forms a substantial part of Tele2's revenue (30% in 2012) and an even larger part of its earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) (43%). Tele2 Russia's subscriber base accounts for some 60% of the Scandinavian telecom operator's entire subscriber base.
