Foreign shareholders would thus have a chance to get at least a fraction of their money, which has been blocked in Russia for about two years due to Western sanctions.
The company said it has submitted an offer to buy up to 83,932,026 shares, for which it plans to spend up to 7.97 billion rubles (about two billion CZK) from its own funds. The purchase price was set at 95 rubles per share, which is 69 percent less than Friday’s closing price of MTS shares on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
The parameters of the company’s share buyback have already been approved by the Russian government commission. The deadline for shareholders to accept the offer is May 28 at noon Moscow time. The offer is mainly aimed at non-resident shareholders who are currently unable to sell or buy MTS shares.
“The buyback of treasury shares will be financed from MTS’ own funds and will not affect the dividend policy or plans of MTS to pay dividends,” the company said.
The proposal essentially corresponds to the procedure applied last year by the retail company Magnit, Reuters reported. Magnit has successfully completed the buyback of its shares worth approximately $736 million (CZK 17.3 billion). The Kremlin demands a discount of at least 50 percent on any property sale involving foreigners.
Tags: largest Russian operator pay foreign investors Shares bought discount
