Billionaire Alisher Usmanov won a major step in his battle to scrap the merger of MegaFon and top Turkish operator Turkcell after a Moscow court nullified the deal on Monday.
Usmanov, who owns 39 percent of MegaFon, filed a suit in April to force fellow shareholders — TeliaSonera and Altimo — to scrap last year's merger of their stakes in MegaFon and Turkcell.
The merger is important for Telia, the Nordic region's biggest telecoms operator, and Altimo, the telecoms arm of Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group, as it was meant to help resolve their bitter dispute over the ownership of Turkcell.
But Usmanov filed the suit to annul the deal as his Telekominvest arm has said the merger contradicted Russian law, which bans foreign entities from getting control in strategic enterprises.
A Moscow Arbitration court ruled Monday in favor of the suit by Telekominvest.
An Altimo spokesman said it was planning to appeal.
Usmanov has said he favors another route for his MegaFon stake — swapping it for a share in the reformed state telecoms holding company Svyazinvest.
Telekominvest is also prepared to offer to buy Altimo and TeliaSonera out of MegaFon in light of Monday's ruling, the firm's chief executive, Ivan Streshinsky, told Interfax.
"We'll once again invite Altimo and TeliaSonera to start negotiations about a MegaFon buyout," Streshinsky said.
(Reuters, MT)
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