The sale of Moscow-based Akado, one of Russia’s leading cable operators, has moved a stage closer.
Vedomosti reports that a meeting of the board of directors at Megafon is scheduled for mid July and that a deal to buy Akado could be wrapped up by the end of this month.
The sale price – around $1.2 billion (€849.6 million), including debts, estimated at some $370 million as of the beginning of this year, though now apparently down to around $200 million – is apparently the same today as was reported half a year ago.
Apparently under the terms of the proposed deal, Megafon would pay 70% of the sale price in cash immediately and the remaining 30% later, depending on Akado’s financial performance.
Renova Industries, which is backed by Viktor Vekselberg, and Yuri Pripachkin, the current owners of Akado, have been looking to sell the company since 2009.
Should the deal be finalised, Megafon, which is already one of the leading mobile companies in Russia, would also become the largest provider of broadband internet services in Moscow.
