MTS Joint LLC to go under hammer

Belarus’s stake in mobile operator MTS Joint Limited Liability Company will be offered for international sale.

This statement was made today by Belarusian deputy PM Anatoly Kalinin, BelTA reports.

Has he noted, “There’s an offer from the Russian company to buy the controlling stake, talks were held, but we didn’t agree on price,” Interfax-Zapad news agency informs. “They offered to pay a part and then pay the rest in accordance with the company’s rating on the international market,” the deputy PM said. “But we want them to pay for the whole stake at once,” he stressed.

As earlier reported, Mobile TeleSystems Open Joint-Stock Company (MTS) showed its interest in purchasing a 51-percent stake in the Belarusian Mobile TeleSystems Joint Limited Liability Company, journalists learned Tuesday from Oleg Raspopov, the Head of Business Unit "MTS Foreign Subsidiaries".

“We are holding negotiations on the purchase. For a reasonable price, for the money this stake is worth. Our Belarusian partners are informed about all our offers,” he said.

The company does not say what sum MTS is ready to give for Belarus’s stake.