MOSCOW, April 27 (Reuters) - Russia's largest mobile operator MTS proposed a share buyback to foreign shareholders at a discount of around 69% on Saturday, giving Western investors whose securities are blocked in Russia the chance to recoup some stranded funds.
MTS has launched a tender offer to purchase up to 83,932,026 shares and plans to spend up to 7.97 billion roubles of its own funds to finance the share acquisition, MTS said.
The purchase price was set at 95 roubles per share, which was 69% lower than yesterday's closing price on the Moscow Exchange.
The proposal mirrors one made by retailer Magnit in 2023, which saw it successfully complete a buyback worth around $736 million. The Kremlin demands a discount of at least 50% on any asset sales involving foreigners.
Magnit's offer represented the first opportunity for non-resident shareholders of a Russian public company to dispose of their shareholdings with settlement in different currencies since the West imposed sweeping sanctions over the war in Ukraine and subsequent Russian countermeasures restricted the flow of capital. (Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Gleb Stolyarov Editing by Andrew Osborn)
