British court froze the assets of financial subsidiaries of MTS

MOSCOW, January 27 - RIA Novosti. English High Court on Wednesday issued an order on interim measures, the freezing of assets of MTS Finance, a subsidiary of Mobile TeleSystems, the largest cellular operator in Russia, in a case involving the Kyrgyz operator "Bitel", the report said.

"The order was issued under the interim measures on the arbitration award in favor of Nomihold Securities Inc., Dated November 11, 2010, which included a claim against MTS Finance to pay $ 170 million plus costs and interest, as well as 5.88 million dollars in the form of dividends, as reported by MTS 22 November 2010 and re-confirmed on Jan. 5, 2011, after the final resolution of the London Court of Arbitration. Among other things, an order indicates that the MTS Finance is not eligible for England and Wales to dispose of assets in excess of 208 113 000 544.6 dollars, "- said in MTS.

As stated in the MTS, the company does not believe that conditions may interfere with the requirements of the operator deals on placement of securities, including Eurobonds.

London Arbitration 5 January ordered the MTS to implement its option for 49% stake in Tarino Limited, which in 2005 owned 100% of Kyrgyz mobile operator "Bitel" (Bitel). MTS was going to buy then BITEL, but later lost control of the company. Under the terms of the option, the MTS should buy 49-per cent stake in the company Tarino Nomihold Securities at 175.88 million dollars.

Such a large unexpected payment entitles the holders of Eurobonds MTS submit the paper to the buyout, which could lead to technical default. Currently, MTS in circulation are two Eurobond issues - at $ 400 million maturing in 2012, and $ 750 million maturing in 2020. The operator, on Monday offered to bondholders 400 million prepayment. The company intends to obtain the consent of holders of securities maturing in 2020 on the abolition of the contract terms that allow the owners of the Eurobonds to present them for redemption in a situation of paying Nomihold.

OAO Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) is the largest number of subscribers of cellular operator in Russia. The main shareholder is Sistema (52,8% of shares), in free circulation are 46,7% of shares. MTS's net profit in the first quarter of 2010 according to RAS was 10.6 billion rubles, as against a net loss a year earlier to 2.2 billion rubles.

By copying and citing (full or partial) the reference to RIA Novosti is mandatory. When quoting the Internet hyperlink to the site http://www.rian.ru required.