In 2005, Nomihold Securities Inc. (British Virgin Islands) sold 51% of the shares of Tarino Limited, the indirect owner of the Kyrgyz GSM operator Bitel, to MTS for $150 million. MTS concluded the deal through its Luxembourg-based subsidiary, Mobile TeleSystems Finance S.A.
But soon the Russian investment company, Reservspetsmet, said it had struck a deal to purchase Bitel and since then MTS has had no operational control of the Kyrgyz operator.
In its suit, Nomihold Securities Inc. demands that MTS Finance S.A. exercise the $170 mln option for the repurchase of 49% of the shares of Tarino Limited and compensate for the plaintiff's losses and expenses, MTS said in a statement.
But MTS believes it must not exercise the option because it does not possess the shares acquired in 2005, MTS press secretary Yelena Kokhanskaya said.
MTS also earlier said it intended to insist on the review of the option terms because it was presumed at the time the option deal was struck that Tarino Limited had operational control of Bitel.
At the same time, MTS said in its official statement that it will pay the required sum, if the court makes a judgment against the company.
The date for the court proceedings to examine the case can be known not early than the summer of this year, MTS said.
Bitel is the republic's sole company operating on the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard. The company controls 87% of the Kyrgyz cell phone market.
