PRESS: USM head: X-Holding to leave USM during 6 months

MOSCOW, Oct 8 (PRIME) -- Russian multi-profile IT group X-Holding will withdraw from USM during six months, USM General Director Ivan Streshinsky told business daily Kommersant in an interview published on Friday.

“The goals we set in relation to the telecom business are reached. Now we understand that we’re limiting in a certain way the development of X-Holding for two reasons,” Streshinsky said.

“The first is related to the fact that in terms of the strategy we do not focus on manufacture of equipment, which is a different matter. The second is that the affiliation between X-Holding and (mobile operator) MegaFon is in some way detrimental to the former’s business. We plan to make (the deal) during six months,” he added.

Strategically, X-Holding should develop independently, Streshinsky said. X-Holding’s founder Anton Cherepennikov has a vision of how to develop the company, and Alisher Usmanov and other shareholders of USM supported him.

The deal is yet to be structured, but the telecom assets are planned to be handed over to USM, while those related to equipment production and some other IT units to X-Holding.

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