Last checked at 29 Dec 2016 06:00
PJSC ROSTELECOM / Miscellaneous - Low PrioritySberbank and Rostelecom announce the creation of a sub-fund to invest in theredevelopment and management of Rostelecom PJSC's real estate 29-Dec-2016 / 08:00 CET/CESTDissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EquityStory.RS,LLC - a company of EQS Group AG.The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- December 29, 2016, Moscow -As part of its corporate real estate fundproject, Rostelecom PJSC in partnership with Sberbank announces thecompletion of the first transaction within its new commercial real estatesub-fund which has been set up in the form of a joint venture withregistered capital of RUB 4 billion[1]. The real estate fund comprises realestate assets from Rostelecom's portfolio which have great potential forinvestment and development with the involvement of co-investors. Sberbank, via Sberbank Investments LLC, and Rostelecom PJSC havecontributed RUB 2 billion each to the joint venture and thus become 50%shareholders. The joint venture will purchase 16 commercial real estateproperties from Rostelecom worth a total of more than RUB 4 billion. Theproperties are located in nine Russian cities, including six properties inSaint Petersburg and two in the Moscow Region with a total area of over100,000 square metres. The properties have been selected based on theirpotential to appreciate in value following redevelopment. James Corrigan, Managing Director, Merchant Banking and AdvisoryDepartment, Sberbank CIB, commented on the deal: 'Sberbank is a long-termstrategic partner of Rostelecom. As an investor, we are interested indeveloping the investment and development potential of the propertiesmanaged by our joint venture. Leading corporate and investment banks in thereal estate sector partnering with federal telecommunications companies toreach investment objectives has been successful in other countries. We areglad to pioneer the implementation of a similar strategy in Russia. We hopethat the successful realisation of this pilot deal will strengthen ourcooperation and act as a positive signal for the market, providingimportant impetus to further the development of partnerships betweenstrategic and financial players to effectively manage commercial realestate funds.' Mikhail Irzhevsky, Vice President of Legal Affairs, Rostelecom PJSC,commented: 'This deal is part of our strategic initiative to monetise theCompany's real estate portfolio, as agreed by the Board of Directors. Thispilot joint project with Sberbank enables us to undertake the firstpractical step towards the development and execution of the corporate real-estate fund strategy.' # # # Rostelecom (www.rostelecom.ru) is one of the largest nationaltelecommunications operators in Russia and Europe. The Company operates inall segments of the telecommunications market and covers millions ofhouseholds in Russia. Rostelecom is an undisputable leader of the broadband and pay-TV markets inRussia with over 12.2 million fixed-line broadband subscribers and over 9.2million pay-TV subscribers, over 4.0 million of which are subscribed toRostelecom's IPTV services. In the nine months of 2016 the Group generated RUB 217.0 billion ofrevenue, RUB 72.4 billion of OIBDA (33.4% of revenue) and RUB 8.7 billionof net income. The Group is a market leader in providing telecommunications services togovernment bodies and corporates of all levels. Rostelecom is an important innovator that provides solutions in the fieldof E-Government, cloud computing, healthcare, education, security andhousing & utility services. The Group's stable financial position confirmed by its credit ratings.Rostelecom was assigned 'BBB-' and 'BB+' international credit ratings byFitch Ratings and Standard&Poor's respectively. Sberbank - the largest bank in Russia and one of the leading globalfinancial institutions. Sberbank accounts for about a third of total assetsof the Russian banking sector. Sberbank is a key lender to the nationaleconomy and has the largest market share in deposits. The founder and mainshareholder of PJSC Sberbank is the Central Bank of the Russian Federation,which owns 50% of the share capital plus one voting share. The other 50% ofthe Bank's shares are owned by Russian and international investors.Sberbank provides services to more than 135 million individuals and morethan 4 million enterprises in 20 countries. The Bank has the most extensivebranch network in Russia: about 17 thousand branches and internal businessdivisions. International network of the Bank consists of subsidiary banks,branches and representative offices in the UK, the USA, the CIS, Centraland Eastern Europe, India, China, Turkey and other countries.General Bank of Russia license to conduct banking transactions 1481.Official website of the Bank - www.sberbank.com (site of the Group SavingsBank), www.sberbank.ru. # # #Sberbank CIB - Corporate and Investment Banking Sberbank. The key areas ofactivity are corporate loans (including trade finance), documentarybusiness, investment banking, trading in securities, own investments.Corporate and Investment Banking Savings Bank provides its clients,including major corporations, financial institutions, state, federal andsub-federal authorities and organizations, integrated financial solutionsand services of a financial advisor. * * *Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statementswithin the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws and intended to becovered by the safe harbours created thereby.Those forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:* Assessment of Rostelecom's PJSC (the Company) future operating andfinancial results as well as forecasts of the present value of future cashflows and related factors;* The Company's plans to take ownership stakes in other organisations;* the Company's anticipated capital expenditures and plans to construct andmodernize its network;* the Company's expectations as to the growth in demand for its services,plans relating to the expansion of the range of its services and theirpricing;* the Company's plans with respect to improving its corporate governancepractices;* the Company's expectations as to its position in the telecommunicationsmarket and forecasts on the development of the market segments within whichthe Company operates;* economic outlook and industry trends;* the Company's expectations as to the regulation of the Russiantelecommunications industry and assessment of impact of regulatoryinitiatives on the Company's activity;* other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties andother factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially fromthose expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Theserisks, uncertainties and other factors include:* risks relating to changes in political, economic and social conditions inRussia as well as changes in global economic conditions;* risks relating to Russian legislation, regulation and taxation, includinglaws, regulations, decrees and decisions governing the Russiantelecommunications industry, securities industry as well as currency andexchange controls relating to Russian entities and their officialinterpretation by regulatory bodies;* risks relating to the Company, including the achievement of theanticipated results, levels of profitability and growth, ability to createand meet demand for the Company's services including their promotions, andthe ability of the Company to remain competitive in a liberalizedtelecommunications market;* technological risks associated with the functioning and development ofthe telecommunications infrastructure, technological innovations as well asthe convergence of technologies;* other risks and uncertainties. For a more detailed discussion of theseand other factors, see the Company's Annual Report and the Company's otherpublic filings. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to control orpredict. Given these and other uncertainties, readers are cautioned not toplace undue reliance on any of the forward-looking statements containedherein or otherwise. The Company does not undertake any obligation torelease publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements (whichare made as of the date hereof) to reflect events or circumstances upon theannual report publication or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipatedevents, except as may be required under applicable laws. Note: This announcement contains inside information in accordance withArticle 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 of November 10, 2014Full name and position making the announcement - Ekaterina Ustinova, IRDirector. [1] The deal was organised by the Investment Department of Sberbank CIB,the corporate and investment banking business of Sberbank, via SberbankInvestments LLC (a 100% subsidiary of Sberbank). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The EquityStory.RS, LLC Distribution Services include RegulatoryAnnouncements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.Archive at www.dgap.de/ukreg --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: PJSC ROSTELECOM 30 Goncharnaya st. 115172 Moscow Russia Phone: +7 (499) 999-82-83 Fax: +7 (499) 999-82-22 E-mail: rostelecom@rt.ru Internet: www.rostelecom.ru ISIN: US7785291078 Listed: Foreign Exchange(s) Moscow Category Code: MSCL TIDM: RKMD Sequence Number: 3726 Time of Receipt: 29-Dec-2016 / 07:59 CET/CEST End of Announcement EquityStory.RS, LLC News Service--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 533193 29-Dec-2016UK-Regulatory-announcement transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.