Antitrust clears MegaFon to raise stake in seller Euroset to 100%

MOSCOW, Aug 14 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has allowed Cyprus-registered Lebford Investments Ltd. to acquire Euroset-Retail, a managing company of large handset selling chain Euroset, the watchdog said on Monday in a statement.

Lebford Investments Ltd. belongs to mobile operator MegaFon and company Garsdale.

In July, MegaFon and its fellow VimpelCom, which owned Euroset on a parity basis, said that MegaFon would consolidate the retailer, while VimpelCom would buy half of Euroset’s stores for 1.25 billion rubles. The deal is expected to close in October–December.

Jean-Yves Charlier, CEO of VEON, VimpelCom’s sole owner, said earlier the operator would complete the integration of Euroset’s stores into its own retail business by the middle of 2018.

An authority spokesperson also said that the service allowed Vimpel-Communications, a unit of VimpelCom, to buy half of Euroset’s stores from MegaFon.

(60.1873 rubles – U.S. $1)

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