Vimpelcom finishes acquisition of 90% in New Telephone Company, plans offer for remaining 10%
MOSCOW. June 7 (Interfax) - OJSC Vimpelcom closed the acquisition of OJSC New Telephone Company (Vladivostok, NTC), the company said in a statement.
The company, as earlier reported, will put an offer to purchase the remaining 10% in NTC. The close of the offer is expected in the third quarter.
Prior to Vimpelcom's transaction Korea Telecom held 79.96% in NTC and Summit Telecom Global Management (a subsidiary of the Sumitomo Corporation) held 20%.
The transaction will come to $420 million for 100% in NTC.
The Russian company was the sole contender for this asset put up for sale by its owners. Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service declined both of Vimpelcom's main rivals, Megafon and MTS , acquisition of NTC because if either of these companies bought NTC their market share for cellular services in the Primorsk Territory would top 50%.
Vimpelcom provides only 3G services in the bulk of Russia's Far Eastern regions and is, therefore, interested in purchasing NTC.
NTC is one of the top-10 biggest cellular operators in Russia, providing services to 1.56 million subscribers in April. The company's sales revenue came to 3.4 billion rubles at the end of 2010.