TMCnet News

TNK-BP billions to be put in telecoms [Herald, The (Scotland)]
[June 03, 2014]

TNK-BP billions to be put in telecoms [Herald, The (Scotland)]


(Herald, The (Scotland) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) RUSSIAN billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Alfa-Group has said it wants to invest billions of dollars of proceeds from the sale of oil firm TNK-BP into telecoms assets in Europe as it looks to capitalise as the industry consolidates.



Mr Fridman has one of the most international portfolios of Russia's tycoons and has already invested in telecoms, including Amsterdam-based Vimpelcom and Turkey's Turkcell. His energy fund also recently struck a $7 billion deal for Germany's RWE's oil and gas production arm.

Alexei Reznikovich, in charge of managing Mr Fridman's telecoms assets, said he was looking at telecoms deals worth "one billion plus" dollars primarily in Europe, as well as smaller deals - worth between $20 million and $200 million - in the United States in adjacent sectors, such as building data centres.


He said; "We think that Europe is currently most attractive because of the consolidation processes that are gathering strength there... The time is right (to invest).

Mr Reznikovich, chief executive of LetterOne Telecom, said he was interested in up to five possible acquisition targets in Europe but declined to give more specifics.

Alfa Group is flush with cash from last year's sale of its $14 billion stake in TNK-BP to state major Rosneft.

Europe's telecom companies have been hit by revenue declines because of tough price competition and regulatory limits on a number of charges they can make.

(c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]