Tele2 announced Thursday that the acquisition by VTB of Tele2 has been completed. This comes despite many criticisms and complaints by rival bidders as to the valuations and terms of the sale by the Russian state controlled financial institution.
The US$3.5 billion deal was agreed upon last week and precipitated the sale process rapidly despite other much more valuable offers provided by two tycoons, namely billionaires Mikhail Friedman and Vladimir Evtushnekov.
According to Tele2 Chairman Mike Parton in a statement, the deal's completion was an 'excellent result' for the shareholders of the company, with Kinnevik the Swedish invetment group as the biggest on record.
He added, "Our cash investment in this business was SEK6 billion and this has generated a cash return of over SEK 27 bilklion including the transaction, much of which has been returned to our shareholders."
All three competing bidders, namely MTS, Vimpelcom and A1 declined to provide comments as to the completion of the VTB-Tele2 Russia deal.
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