Starting price for state share in Belarusian MTS down to $863m

The starting price for the state-owned share in the Belarusian mobile company MTS is $863 million.

The Rrepresentatives of the State Property Committee of Belarus told BelTA.

The Committee has announced that a competitive selection will be arranged to choose the investor for selling the share in the authorized fund of the additional liability company Mobile TeleSystems (MTS). The 51% share is owned by Belarus and is managed by the Belarusian national telecommunication corporation Beltelecom. The competitive selection of the investor to sell the share to will take place in Minsk on 6 February 2014.

The buyer will have to comply with several terms. MTS will have to keep its percentage of Belarus’ coverage with mobile telecommunication services at least at the level registered by government statistics in the last fiscal period before the purchase contract is signed. Documents for the selection of investors have to be submitted by 5 February 2014.

Resident and non-resident corporations are invited to take part in the selection. After reviewing proposals of participants the commission will name the winner, who offers the top price for the share in MTS.

Earlier the initial price for the state-owned share in the Belarusian mobile company MTS was as large as $1 billion. The first evaluation was carried out in 2010. The share has been up for auctions more than once since 2011 but still has not been sold.