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Articles & publications
04.05.2010
Mobilizing minoritiesVedomosti, Oleg Salmanov
The minority shareholders of Svyazinvest’s regional telecommunications operators (RTOs) will be able to participate in the management of all of their major cellular assets. Independent directors are to be appointed at Eniseitelecom and Akos for the first time.
Last week, the representatives of RTO minorities requested Svyazinvest to participate in operations of the board of directors of Eniseitelecom and Akos, and the management of the state holding gave its consent. Vedomosti learned this news from the managing director of Investor Protection Association (IPA) Denis Kulikov, and first deputy general director of Svyazinvest Alexander Provotorov confirmed this news.
The boards of directors of Eniseitelecom and Akos are each expected to have one minority appointee. According to Mr. Kulikov, these are the last of Svyazinvest’s large cellular assets in which the management bodies still have no minority representatives. Minority interests have been represented at Nizhny Novgorod Cellular Communications since the end of 2009 by the deputy director of IPA Alexander Shevchuk, whereas Mr. Kulikov sits on the board of Baikalvestcom (a subsiadiary of Sibirtelecom).
This year the shareholders of RTOs and Rostelecom are expected to vote for (or against) a string of upcoming mergers. Nonetheless, RTOs will remain independent operating companies for about another year and minorities would like to have a say in how their cellular business is rolled out, Kulikov explains.
The fact that Svyazinvest lags behind the rest of the cellular market is one of the problems which the holding would like to fix as a result of the merger. The concept for the restructuring of Svyazinvest sets the goal of turning the holding into a fourth federal cellular operator. In order to achieve this goal it will be necessary to merge the holding’s cellular business, but until the legal merger of RTOs actually takes place their cellular subsidiaries will not be folded, the holding’s representatives have repeatedly pointed out. Nonetheless, the structure for operational management of these assets is already in place at Svyazinvest.
Eniseitelecom, cellular operator. The company operates in the Krasnoyarsk krai, in the republics of Khakassia and Tyva. Its main shareholder is Svyazinvest (100%). Financial indicators (IFRS, 9 months 2009): revenue – RUR 3.9 bln, operating profit – RUR 328 mln.
Akos, cellular operator. The company operates in the Primorsk krai. Its main shareholder is Far East Telecom (94.45%). Financial indicators (IFRS, 9 months 2009): revenue – RUR 749 mln, operating profit – RUR 131 mln.
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