Russia’s Rostelecom is again in talks to buy the cable operator Akado, seven years after a deal between the two parties collapsed.
Quoting sources close the management at Akado’s owner Renova and at Rostelecom, Vedomosti reports that Renova is conducting a pre-audit sale and different methods of asset purchase are being considered.
It adds that just last month the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) gave ER Telecom, another leading Russian cable operator, permission to buy Akado’s assets in St Petersburg and Yekaterinberg.
Renova has previously valued Akado at $519 million, not taking debt into account, while in 2010 Rostelecom planned to buy Akado for $1.2 billion.
More recently, in 2013, ER Telecom also received permission from FAS to buy Akado, in a deal worth $650-700 million. However, this too failed to materialise.
Akado is one of the leading providers of broadband and pay-TV services in Moscow.
