Russian Phone Retailer to Close Indian Subsidiaries
Russian mobile phone retailer, Euroset has decided to close its two subsidiaries in India. The company opened its first outlet, under the Ultra brand at the beginning of last year. Citing a source in the company, RIA Novosti said that the subsidiaries were closed on the decision of the new owner, who is, "not interested in investing in India".
Euroset operates a network of over 5,000 outlets in 12 countries, all of which were republics of the former Soviet Union, namely Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Russian billionaire, Alexander Mamut recently brought Euroset from its two founders for US$400 million cash and about US$850 million in debt. There have been rumours that the purchase was a holding company deal with a sale of a stake to Russian mobile operator, VimpleCom being the long term objective.
Eldar Murtazin, chief analyst at Mobile Research Group told the newspaper that the company may have always intended to take a stake in Euroset, but chose to wait until it was sold to an Oligarch so that it could structure the deal in a way which does not impact on its financial results.
On the web: RIA Novosti
Posted to the site on 13th October 2008
