East-West Digital News 23 April 2012
Megafon, Russia’s second largest mobile operator, has borrowed $4.5 billion with the intention of buying back investor Mikhail Fridman’s 25.1% stake, Reuters reported last week. If successful, the purchase will bring MegaFon closer to a $4 billion IPO on the London Stock Exchange.
Megafon borrowed $1.5 billion from Sberbank, the Russian national savings bank, $1 billion from Gazprombank, and a syndicated loan of $2 billion from Western banks.
Megafon has appointed Ivan Tavrin as CEO, a step which amounts to a move to give control of the company to Alisher Usmanov.