OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2009. JSC Kazakhtelecom (“Kazakhtelecom”) has today agreed to sell its 51% stake in the Kazakh mobile operator Mobile Telecom-Service LLP (providing services under the “NEO” brand) to Swedish telecom operator Tele2. Tele2’s cash offer values NEO at USD300 million on debt and cash free basis, reported the press-centre of Kazakhtelecom.

Arnur Nurkatov, Chief Financial Officer of Kazakhtelecom, said “Tele2 is the perfect partner for NEO due to its experience in managing similar assets in CIS and Baltic countries and its long-terms investment plans for the business. We have been greatly encouraged by what we have heard and we strongly believe Tele2 will take this company forward.”

Kazakhtelecom initiated the sales process for NEO in June 2009 when it announced it was exploring strategic options for the company as part of its non-core assets disposal program. There was significant interest in the opportunity from international strategic investors and Kazakhtelecom received binding offers on 14 September 2009.

RBS acted as sole financial adviser to Kazakhtelecom in relation to this transaction. Baker and McKenzie acted as Kazakhtelecom’s legal advisers.

About Kazakhtelecom
Kazakhtelecom JSC - a leading service provider in Kazakhstan and one of the most rapidly developing telecom companies in CIS countries – provides a wide range of ICT services.

51% of Kazakhtelecom's shares are held by the Government of Kazakhstan in the name of JSC ”Sovereign Wealth Fund “Samruk-Kazyna”. Kazakhtelecom's HQ is based in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana city. The company has branches in each oblast (province) of Kazakhstan and provides telecom services all over the country. Kazakhtelecom has also representative offices in the Russian Federation, People's Republic of China and Republic of Tajikistan. The operator serves more than 3,500 mln subscribers of fixed lines. Telephone density in Kazakhstan is about 22.57 fixed lines per 100 people. Kazakhtelecom JSC closely cooperates with more than 40 international service providers.

Over 9 months 2009, total number of Internet-users across the group of companies of Kazakhtelecom JSC amounted to more than 1,6 million users including broadband Internet users - more than 1mln 250 thousand subscribers. More detailed information about Kazakhtelecom JSC is available at www.telecom.kz.

About Tele2

Tele2 is one of Europe’s leading telecom operators with 26 million customers in 10 countries. Tele2 offers mobile services, fixed broadband and telephony, data network services, cable TV and content services. Tele2 has been listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm since 1996. In 2008, the company had net sales of SEK 38.3 billion and reported an EBITDA of SEK 8.2 billion.