OREANDA-NEWS. November 02, 2009. Moscow, Russian Federation – Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS” – NYSE: MBT), the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, announces the decision made at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the Company’s shareholders on October 22, 2009.

The following resolution was adopted at the Meeting:

To approve MTS OJSC’ entering into a loan agreement1 concluded between the Company and a syndicate of lending banks involving assets with a value constituting more than 2 percent of the Company’s book value according to the Company’s financial statements, dated May 18, 2009 (restated on June 30, 2009).

Given that two of the banks in the syndicate were J.P. Morgan plc (one of the Mandated Lead Arrangers) and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (one of the lending banks and the Company’s depositary bank under the MTS ADR program), this arguably constituted an interested party transaction as the Company’s depositary bank was considered under Russian Law to be a shareholder of MTS with ownership of over 20% of the Company’s stock despite having only a nominal status. Approval of the transaction required majority of all Company’s disinterested shareholders.

1 The loan agreement in question is the syndicated loan originally signed in May 2009 for USD 295 million and €214 million. On July 14, 2009, five international banks joined the group of 14 Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners, which resulted in oversubscription. The proceeds of the facility from May 2009 were used to refinance the USD 630 million three-year tranche of MTS’ USD 1.3 billion syndicated loan, which was originally signed in April 2006. The additional commitments raised post senior stage concluded in May 2009 were used for general corporate purposes of the Company.