A shareholder reshuffle at Russian operator MegaFon is to see the firm pay-out US$5.15 billion in dividends to its three main owners and pursue an IPO in London. The operator separately announced it had switched on its first LTE network in the city of Novosibirsk, claiming to be the first of the ‘big three’ Russian firms to offer a commercial 4G service.
The agreement ends a long-running ownership dispute between MegaFon's main shareholders and will also see Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s AF Telecom take majority control of the firm, buying-out Altimo’s entire holding and a portion of the shares held by TeliaSonera.
In a statement, the shareholders said that the London listing would happen “as soon as practically possible,” involving up to 20 percent of MegaFon's shares, of which TeliaSonera and MegaFon will contribute with up to 10.6 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively.
“By reaching an agreement with the two other partners, whereby MegaFon will pursue an IPO and adopt an agreed dividend policy, we have resolved the ownership disputes and found a way to increase both the liquidity and value of our asset,” said TeliaSonera CEO Lars Nyberg.
TeliaSonera’s current ownership in MegaFon is 43.8 percent, of which it holds 35.6 percent directly and 8.2 percent indirectly through its 26.1 percent ownership in Telecominvest (TCI). As part of the new agreement, AF Telecom will acquire TeliaSonera’s shares in TCI for US$1.45 billion, while Altimo will receive US$5.2 billion (including dividends) from MegaFon for its current 25.1 percent stake. TeliaSonera will receive SEK22 billion (US$3.3 billion) in total, including a SEK12.4 billion dividend payment.
Following these deals, TeliaSonera will own 35.6 percent, AF Telecom 50 percent plus one share while MegaFon, through its subsidiary, will own the remaining 14.4 percent. TeliaSonera said it aims to keep a long term ownership of 25 percent plus one share in the firm following the IPO.
TeliaSonera and outgoing shareholder Altimo said they would continue to work together in Turkey, where they are co-owners of the country’s largest mobile operator, Turkcell, which is also the subject of an ownership dispute.
MegaFon is planning to deploy 4G networks in Moscow, Krasnodar and Sochi in the first half of the year, and in Saint Petersburg, Samara, Vladivostok, Ufa, Kostroma and some other cities by the year end.
