Moscow Times 24 August 2012
Rostelecom has signed a memorandum of intent to buy Norilsk Telecom from investment bank CIT Finance, two unidentified consultants said.
The report was confirmed by sources close to Rostelecom and CIT Finance. Spokespeople for Rostelecom, Norilsk Nickel and CIT Finance declined to comment.
Rostelecom has carried out a due diligence study of the company and is prepared to pay 1.8 billion rubles ($57 million), one of the consultants said. The other consultant estimated the deal at 2 billion rubles.
The price is quite high for a company with an annual revenue of about 1 billion rubles, said Yuly Matevosov, a senior analyst at Alfa Bank.
Norilsk Telecom chief executive Mikhail Khaustov said the company’s current profit margin was higher than in the period when mining giant Norilsk Nickel was its major customer. In 2006, Norilsk Telecom’s EBITDA margin amounted to 23.8 percent.