MOSCOW, February 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's federal property fund said Wednesday it has sold the government stakes in two major telecoms companies for 5.6 billion rubles (about $213.7 million), with a high premium on the original price.
The auctions to sell 4.64% of the shares in the Urals-based Uralsvyazinform [RTS: URSIG] and 7.2% of the shares in inter-regional telecoms provider CenterTelecom [RTS: ESMO] were held last year, but were invalidated due to the small number of bids.
The results of the latest auctions to sell off the government's stakes in both telecom companies were finalized February 27, the fund said.
The stake in Uralsvyazinform was sold for 2.7 billion rubles (about $102.9 million) at a price of 1.45 rubles ($0.06) per share, compared with the original price of 1.07 rubles ($0.04) per share, the fund said.
Shares of Uralsvyazinform are listed on Russia's RTS and MICEX, and its Level-1 American Depositary Receipts (ADR) are traded on the Berlin and Frankfurt bourses.
The stake in CenterTelecom was auctioned off for 2.9 billion rubles (about $110 million), at a price of 19.07 rubles ($0.73) per share, compared with the original price of 15.3 rubles ($0.58) per share, the fund said.
The company's shares are listed on the RTS and MICEX, and its ADRs are traded on the U.S. over-the-counter market and the Berlin and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
As a result of the current auction, 27 legal entities and seven private investors became new owners of the government stakes in both companies.
