Rostelecom buys out Lukoil share in telecoms JV, consolidates 100% ownership
MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - Rostelecom has consolidated 100% of its ownership of Inform LLC, having bought 49.9% of the company from Lukoil , the operator said in a statement.
The amount of the transaction was not disclosed. In March, Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service approved the application for a deal from Rostelecom's subsidiary, Bashinformsvyaz . The redemption of this share is the implementation of a previously provided option, Rostelecom said.
Using Inform LLC as a base, the operator will create a Competence Center for the digital development of companies in the oil and gas sector, which will be available to customers from the fuel and energy complex and provide them with the most complete product line of modern telecom and IT services, Rostelecom said in a statement.
"The acquired telecommunications business is an attractive asset for Rostelecom, since it makes it possible to more effectively serve divisions of the Lukoil group and additionally offer the customer an entire range of digital products. In addition, the synergy that arises from combining the partner's industry expertise with our powerful infrastructure opens up new opportunities for Rostelecom's customers in the oil and gas industry," Valery Ermakov, Rostelecom's Senior Vice President for Corporate and the Government Segment, says in the statement.
Lukoil, in turn, reported that the deal is in line with the group's strategy to optimize business processes, reduce non-core activities and switch to the services of professional market participants on the basis of outsourcing. At the same time, the oil company will continue to work with the Competence Center being formed by Rostelecom.
In November 2020, Bashinformsvyaz acquired 50.1% of Lukoil's telecom subsidiary, Lukoil-Inform LLC (currently Inform LLC). The deal provided the buyer and seller the opportunity to exercise call/put options for the remaining 49.9% stake in 2023.
The amount of investments in the controlling stake in Lukoil-Inform was not disclosed. However, it was reported that the final amount of the transaction, taking into account options, would depend on the company's performance and reach at least 2 billion rubles.
According to the SPARK-Interfax analytical system, in 2022 Inform's sales revenue totaled 3.99 billion rubles, a decrease of 5.6% compared to 2021. Net profit increased 2.1 times to 529.76 million rubles.