LONDON — A bidding war has broken out for the cell phone operator Tele2 Russia.
The Russian investment firm Alfa Group said on Thursday that it would offer up to $4 billion to buy the cell phone operator, the Russian unit of the Swedish telecommunications company Tele2. The Alfa Group announced the bid after Tele2 agreed to sell the unit to the VTB Group, a Russian bank, for $2.4 billion, plus debt.
The Alfa Group, whose chairman is the Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, said VTB’s offer for Tele2 Russia undervalued the cellphone operator, adding that it was also considering an offer to buy the rest of Tele2’s operations.
The Alfa Group “is interested and willing to agree to a purchase price for the remaining assets of Tele2 over a very short period of time,” it said in a statement on Thursday. The Alfa Group also holds a majority stake in the Russian cellphone company VimpelCom.
Shares in Tele2 rose 3.5 percent in morning trading in Stockholm on Thursday.
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