After the bid made by billionaire Mikhail Fridman's A1 Investment Group, new bidders have made offers to join Tele2 AB's Russian subsidiary. New offers were made by fellow mobile companies MTS and Vimpelcom.
The Russian telecommunications companies jointly are offering between US$4.0 billion to US$4.25 billion for the unit, together with US$1.5 billion in net debt. The venture claims their bid had a 30% premium over the VTB offer.
In a joint statement from MTS and Vimpelcome CEOs, they said, "We would like to express our strong interest in providing an alternative offer to the shareholders of Tele2 AB and we think this is a distinctly more attractive proposal."
VTB, the state owned bank, offered to purchase Tele2 Russia that places the firm's enterprise value at US$3.5 billion. A1 countered with an all cash bid between US$3.6 billion to US$4 billion. Now, the bidding war escalates in Russia, a first for the country as fellow Russians bid against one another.
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