SSTL's 20% stake sale to Russian govt in Q1 2011

Russian government will complete the deal to pick up 20 per cent stake for $600 million in Sistema Shyam telecom joint venture by first quarter of 2011, a top company official said today.

Sistema-Shyam (SSTL) JV was one of the nine new telecom operators who were given licences in 2008. SSTL is a joint venture between India's Shyam Group and Russian conglomerate Sistema.

Besides, the company has today signed a letter of mandate with Russia-based Gazprombank for a loan of $200 million (about Rs 906 crore) which will be used for rolling out network.

"We will complete all the technicalities related with the $600 million loan from the Russian Government for a 20 per stake sale by the first quarter of next year and also for the bank loan," SSTL President and CEO Vsevolod Rozanov told reporters here.

In September, 2010, the government of the Russian Federation had approved an equity investment of $600 million in SSTL to pick up a 20 per cent stake, which will be in the form of Indian rupees held in accounts representing the Indian government's debt to the Russian Federation.

On the loan deal, the formal procedure of mandate letter was executed between Gazprombank and SSTL for raising of funds for the amount equivalent to $200 million.

"The signing of the mandate letter by Gazprombank for raising a loan of $200 million in favor of SSTL is very significant for us.

It further reinforces our commitment to roll out a world class telecom network in India by harnessing the power of CDMA technology. This is bound to benefit both our customers and also create value for all our shareholders," Rozanov added.

In the same event, Gazprombank unvelied its representative office in India. The main task of the representative office would be representation of the banks' interest and support of its products promotion in the Indian financial markets.

Currently, the bank representative office works with companies that deals with defence, nuclear power and telecom.