Sistema fully draws MTS stake used as collateral for Sberbank loan

MOSCOW, Sep 2 (PRIME) -- Russian multi-industry holding Sistema has signed an agreement with Sberbank, the country’s top lender, to release the holding’s stake in mobile operator MTS from pledge fully, Sistema said on Wednesday in a statement.

“The new agreement with Sberbank is another step forward in optimization of our debt portfolio. Removal of the pledge from the MTS shares was made possible by the growth in the value of the corporation’s assets and reduction of the debt leverage. We are pleased to continue working with our long-term partner Sberbank under the new terms of unsecured lending,” Sistema Vice President for Finance Vladimir Travkov said.

Sistema borrowed a 60 billion ruble loan maturing in 2023 and secured it against a 16% stake in MTS in February 2018. In November 2019, Sistema signed an agreement to extend maturity of the loan to 2025.

The outstanding loan amounts to 37.9 billion rubles.

Sistema’s effective ownership of MTS is 50.02%.

(73.5849 rubles – U.S. $1)

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