Akado shareholders value company at $1.2 bln, no plans to sell for less
MOSCOW. Feb 1 (Interfax) - Shareholders in broadband provider Akado Group think that $1.2 billion is a fair value for the company and have no plans to sell the company below this figure, Yury Pripachkin, a co-owner in Akado, told journalists.
Pripachkin said that the company was valued at this amount during the autumn of 2010. "It [the estimate] suited us and Rostelecom [the potential buyer at that moment]," he said.
Pripachkin said that the company's sale has not taken place owing to internal disagreements at Svyazinvest, which is the main shareholder in Rostelecom.
"We have no intention to lower it [the price]. The more we work the more effective and higher Akado's value is. The market always puts us on an ascent," he said.
Negotiations with Svyazinvest have not been restarted, Pripachkin said.
Akado, formerly Renova Media, is a telecom holding, which provides television, broadband Internet and telephone services to both corporate and private clients using fibre-optic cable technologies. The company includes the operators Akado-Stolitsa and Comcor, as well as assets in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Minsk. Akado's IFRS sales revenue for 2009 came to 8.9 billion rubles while EBTIDA stood at 2.2 billion rubles.
Renova Media Enterprises Ltd, which is registered in the Bahamas, owns 100% in Akado International Ltd. Renova Industries Ltd. and Pripachkin's CMCR Management own Renova Media.
The situation regarding the purchase of Akado has been cited as one of the reasons for the resignation of Yevgeny Yurchenko as Svyazinvest's head. He considered the price for Akado, $1.2 billion, inflated while sources close to Svyazinvest confirmed that it was quite a bit lower.
In addition to Svyazinvest, Megafon is also interested in Akado.
Akado owns 88% of Comcor, which has over 18,000 km of fiber-optic lines in Moscow. Pripachkin said Akado planned to buy the other 12% from the City of Moscow "if the financial conditions are to our liking."
He said the City would be privatizing its stake this year. A tender will have to be organized and a valuation performed. "Nobody's likely to be interested in it except us, it won't do anything for anybody," Pripachkin said.
He did not say how much the stake might be worth. "This isn't our business, it's for the property department to decide," he said.
The Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS) in November 2010 allowed Akado International Ltd to increase its stake in Comcor.