Sistema did not try to buy Deutsche Telekom

In an interview with Kommersant, the head of Sistema, Alexander Goncharuk, denied that his holding was negotiating the exchange of Russian telecom assets for a large block of shares of the German concern Deutsche Telekom. “We did not conduct negotiations on this topic and did not make any proposals,” said Mr. Goncharuk. “But if you ask my opinion, I’ll say that this deal would be nice for us.” Of course, only if we could take a corresponding position in the share capital and, most importantly, in the management of Deutsche Telekom. ” He noted that the position of the portfolio investor for Sistema is unacceptable: “If it was a question of taking a blocking stake of 20-25% at Deutsche Telekom, taking into account the structure of share capital in the company, that would be very interesting ... But, from my point of view, this situation is almost unbelievable. ”

Alexander Goncharuk explained why the rumors about a possible deal between the two parties did not receive a sharp refutation: “We were interested in the reaction of the western business and investment community. And, to our surprise, we saw that the reaction was positive. Things reached the point that direct televised debates were held on prime time on German television on this issue: is a Russian corporation going to Germany - is it good or bad? And there was no such resume: Russians are coming - save yourself, who can! ”.

“By the way,” adds the head of the holding, “after the appearance of rumors about a possible deal with Sistema, the shares of the German concern rose in price.”