Comstar-UTS names new board following ownership change

Russian service provider Comstar-UTS’s shareholders have elected a new board of directors, reflecting recent changes in the shareholding structure of the company. AFK Sistema-majority owned mobile operator MTS has since October been Comstar’s majority shareholder with a 50.91% stake. Thirty-five per cent of Comstar’s share capital is floated on the London stock exchange.

The new board comprises Ul’f Bakkmayer, deputy director of mobile operator MTS, Thomas Winkler, vice-president of telecommunications at Sistema, Mikhail Gerchuk, vice-president, commercial, at MTS, Sergey Pridantsev, Comstar’s president, Yngve Redling, chairman of the Swedish Russian and CIS Chamber of Commerce, Michael Hecker, vice-president of strategy and corporate development at MTS, Thomas Holtrop, a member of the board of publishing group Gruner & Jahr and Mikhail Shamolin, president and CEO of MTS.

Separately, Sistema has placed a RUB19bn (€433m) seven-year unconvertible bond offering with a put option exercisable in three years. The Russian congolomerate said the issue was oversubscribed 1.7 times.