Comstar UTS, controlled by AFK Sistema, Russia's leading telecoms and services holding company, bought the stake from Cyprus-based Mustcom Ltd., the company said.
"The purchase of a blocking stake in Svyazinvest is a strategic acquisition for Comstar UTS and for the whole Sistema Telecom group [a subsidiary of AFK Sistema established to manage the corporation's telecoms assets]," said Sergei Shchebetov, chairman of the Comstar board of directors.
Svyazinvest combines seven large regional operators, including Uralsvyazinform [RTS: URSI] with 3.6 million subscribers, VolgaTelecom [RTS: NNSI] with 2.4 million subscribers, and Sibirtelecom [RTS: ENCO], with 1.5 million.
The Russian Federal Property Fund holds 25% minus two shares in Svyazinvest, and the Federal Property Management Agency holds 50% plus one share.
Shchebetov said the deal was in line with the company's commitments to the investment community to use the proceeds from its IPO for acquisitions, intended to boost the Comstar UTS share price.
Comstar held an IPO of 35% of its shares in October, raising about $1 billion.
"This deal fully corresponds to our main current task: to take up leading positions on the fixed-line markets of Russia and some countries of the [post-Soviet] Commonwealth of Independent States," Shchebetov said.
