Russian mobile operator MTS opened on Monday an order book for a $1 billion Eurobond issue offered at 8.5-9% per annum, a source in banking circles said.
"The order book was opened today and may be closed already tomorrow," the source said, adding the Eurobonds were issued for a period of 10 years.
MTS, Russia's largest mobile phone operator, held Eurobond road shows in the United States and Europe on May 18-20. After meetings with investors, the company decided to postpone its benchmark Eurobond issue citing unfavorable market conditions but saying it would return to the Eurobond placement after market volatility abated.
The Eurobond issue managers are The Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and The Royal Bank of Scotland. The bonds will be placed under Rule 144A.
MTS is controlled by Russia's largest diversified consumer services group Sistema (52.8% of the stock) while 46.7% of the shares are in free float. MTS posted a net profit under Russian Accounting Standards of 10.6 billion rubles ($342 million) in the first quarter of 2010 compared with 2.2 billion rubles ($71 million) in net losses a year earlier.
MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti)
