A cross-border Hogan Lovells team has advised Euroset, Russia’s largest mobile communications retailers, on its US $1.2bn sale. The transaction closed on Thursday 6 December 2012.
Euroset, which operates over 5,000 stores, is owned by prominent Russian businessman Alexander Mamut. He sold 50.1% of shares in Euroset: 50% to MegaFon (one of the biggest mobile operators in Russia) and USM Advisers, both controlled by tycoon Alisher Usmanov; and 0.1% to VimpelCom, Russia’s third largest mobile operator.
The team advising Euroset was led by Russia Head of M&A partner Oxana Balayan, supported in Moscow by senior associate Leonid Ervits, and associates Evgenia Gaysinskaya and Kirill Osipenko. Amsterdam partner Johannes Buntjer and senior associate Leonie Husiman, who acted as a Dutch notary, plus London corporate finance partner Maegen Morrison and senior associate Louise Rooney completed the team.
Commenting on the transaction, Moscow Office Managing Partner Oxana Balayan said:
“We are thrilled to have successfully advised on this important sale in the Russian retail sector, building on our unique combination of retail and telecom capabilities, in which sectors we have been actively involved in recent years, previously advising Rostelecom on its acquisition of a stake in National Telecommunications for US$1.076bn in February 2011 and X5 Retail Group N.V. on the acquisition of the Kopeyka retail chain for US$1.65 billion in December 2010.”
