OREANDA-NEWS. July 15, 2010. Rostelecom’s Board of Directors has appointed Alexander Provotorov as the company’s new CEO. Mr. Provotorov has been deputy CEO in the parent company Svyazivenvest. Before coming to Svyazinvest, Mr. Provotorov had been with the private equity firm Marshall Capital, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.

View: Mr. Provotorov's main strength is in the area of restructuring, which has been his chief task at Svyazinvest. A potential weakness in the move lies within the need to protect Rostelecom's market share and refocus on the day-to-day business of the largest fixed line operator in Russia. 

Valuation and Action: The consolidated Rostelecom trades on a 2010E EV/EBITDA of 4.2x while Vimpelcom and MTs trade at 4.5x and 4.8x, respectively. While we take the news as neutral (or even slightly positive) for Rostelecom and RTOs, we remain sellers of Rostelecom shares.