Bloomberg via Moscow Times 12 April 2012
HELSINKI — TeliaSonera, Sweden’s biggest phone company, said it’s negotiating with investment partners Altimo and AF Telecom on the future of MegaFon, Russia’s second-largest mobile operator.
“The three main shareholders are in talks since about three months back regarding the ownership structure and future governance of MegaFon,” Cecilia Edstroem, a spokeswoman at Stockholm-based TeliaSonera, said by phone, declining to elaborate further on a statement Wednesday that the discussions are taking place. Altimo vice president Yevgeny Dumalkin also verified the talks during a phone interview.
RBC Daily reported April 2 that Alisher Usmanov’s AF Telecom is looking to buy out Altimo’s 25.1 percent stake in MegaFon for $5 billion, citing unidentified people at telephone operators. That would make AF Telecom a majority owner with the power to make new deals with other companies such as fixed-line phone company Rostelecom and Scartel, which runs fourth-generation mobile service Yota.