Page 24 - bne_Tech_07_2018

Telecom
July 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 24
MTS is one of the largest assets of AFK Sistema,
a multi-industry investment conglomerate. VTB Capital and Uralsib Bank both expect the buyback to be executed in a similar fashion to the previous one, when Sistema spent RUB30bn on 5.2% in MTS "selling as much stock to the company as MTS buys from minority investors, at the same price."
"The share buyback program will allow Sistema to monetise its stake in MTS (in addition to quite generous dividends), while keeping control in the company," Uralsib believes, seeing MTS as the "fundamentally strongest Russian mobile operator."
Regarding the dividends, the CFO of the company Andrey Kamensky also said the company might
pay interim dividends for January-June 2018 of RUB5.1bn, making it the second dividend tranche this year, according to Interfax.
The sum of the two tranches (2017 +January-June dividends) could "well be around RUB26bn," VTB estimates, seeing the payout as is in line with the expectations and MTS's dividend policy. The bank rates MTS at Buy, with the 12-month target price of $12.5 implying a 60% estimated total return.
At the same time, Uralsib reminds that a shadow of sanction risks hangs over MTS, with recent reports suggesting that founder and head of Sis- tema Vladimir Yevtushenko could become the next target of US Treasury sanctions."
Turkish banks to take over bankrupt Turk Telekom
Turkish banks will call in $4.75bn worth of debt and take control of Turk Telekom, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources close to
the deal.
The majority (around 90%) of the company’s creditors have voted to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to take ownership of the Ojer Telekomunikasyon AS, or Otas, which is the holding for the operator.
The remaining 10% have also informally agreed to the deal and are expected to formally accept it.
The ownership of the SPV will be dived between the crediting banks in proportion to their share of the debt that was made to Otas, sources say.
The international lenders in the pool are setting up a second SPV to own their proportional stake in the mooted SPV for tax reasons.
Otas borrowed $4.75 in 2013 to refinance its acquisition of a 55% stake in Turk Telekomunikasyon AS.
Turk Telekom shares rose as much as 5.1% in Istanbul on the news but remain down 18% YTD.
Banks and the companies have been locked
in talks since Otas failed to pay a September 2016 instalment on the loan. The slump in the Turkish lira has hit the revenue it gets from Turk Telekom’s dividends, making it more difficult to repay the dollar-denominated loan.