Kazakhtelecom to sell stake in GSM subsidiary

business and economy

Kazakhtelecom to sell stake in GSM subsidiary

By SRI ⋅ June 30, 2009 ⋅

(SRI) - Kazakhtelecom, the national telecommunications company, plans to sell sell its 51-percent stake in small GSM provider Mobile Telecom Service, it said on Monday. It has appointed RBS Corporate Finance as its financial adviser and is seeking outside investors to take the stake.

According to a statement, the decision to sell the stake was made “in line with the strategy and program of asset restructuring… aimed at strengthening the core business and optimizing the use of resources.”

Kazakhtelecom said it would accept applications from potential investors until July 17, and August 31 would be the deadline for “binding offers”. At the same time, the company did not say how much it plans to raise from the sale.

Mobile Telecom Service, Kazakhstan’s smallest GSM operator, has been providing mobile services under the Neo brand since 2007. In May, it reported about 920,000 subscribers. The other two GSM operators in the country, GSM Kazakhstan and Kar-Tel have 7.5 million and 6 million subscribers, respectively.

AsiaNet Kazakhstan owns the remaining 49-percent stake in the company.

Russia’s largest mobile operator, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), is likely to show interest in acquiring the stake, analysts reckon. Already in 2007, there were rumors that MTS attempted to negotiate a deal with Kazakhtelecom but the two companies failed to agree on price.