TeliaSonera looks to raise stake in MegaFon

TeliaSonera has confirmed that it has been in talks with Russia’s AF Telecom and Altimo regarding the future ownership structure and governance of the Russian mobile network, MegaFon.

So far, these discussions have not led to any agreement.

There have been reports that the Russian shareholders may either float their stakes on the stock market, or possibly engage in some form of swap with the LTE network being planned by Yota.

A more recent rumour suggested that Altimo might sell its stake to AF Telecom, which would result in TeliaSonera becoming the de-facto minority shareholder in the company.

TeliaSonera’s current ownership in MegaFon is 43.8 per cent, of which it holds 35.6 per cent directly and 8.2 per cent indirectly through its 26.1 per cent ownership in Telecominvest. AF Telecom’s ownership is 31.3 per cent of which it holds eight per cent directly and 23.3 per cent indirectly through its 73.9 per cent ownership in Telecominvest. Altimo’s ownership is 25.1 per cent.