PRESS: Sources say Russia’s Tele2, Beeline eye merger

MOSCOW, Jan 27 (PRIME) -- Shareholders of Russian mobile operators T2 RTK Holding, known under the Tele2 brand, and VimpelCom, known under the Beeline brand, discussed a merger at the end of 2015, but no progress has been achieved since then, business daily Vedomosti reported Wednesday, citing several sources.

The initiator of the discussion is unknown. Several sources said it was Tele2, which has to revise its plans on the construction of networks amid the ongoing crisis. There is also a risk that subscribers will be less inclined than expected to join the operator, which has recently entered the lucrative Moscow market.

Other sources said that VimpelCom’s sole owner, Amsterdam-based VimpelCom Ltd., started the talks. The operator has been unsuccessfully trying to regain its position on the Russian market and has a heavy debt burden.

Two people said that the companies could have discussed a purchase of VimpelCom. The talks had been ceased by the end of the year, all sources said. One of them added that the talks were suspended; as VimpelCom Ltd. wants first to settle a probe into its Uzbek business, opened by U.S. and European law enforcement authoritiesá amicably.

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