The board of directors of Sibirtelecom approved a deal with Alfa-Bank to pay off a debt to the state in the amount of 12 million euros. Thus, Alfa-Bank becomes the largest creditor of Sibirtelecom - at the beginning of the year, the operator already borrowed $21 million from the bank to buy stakes in Yeniseytelecom and Baikalwestcom.

On August 15, the board of directors of Sibirtelecom approved the conclusion of an agency agreement with Alfa-Bank to pay off debts to the Russian Ministry of Finance and Vnesheconombank. Sibirtelecom will act as the legal successor to loans in the amount of 12 million euros that arose in 1995 and 1997 under the obligations of regional Elektrosvyazy - Buryatia, Altai Krai, Chita and Irkutsk regions.

According to the balance sheet data of Sibirtelecom, the company's debt on loans and credits has increased since the beginning of the year from 1.1 billion rubles to 2.5 billion rubles.

Yesterday, the press service of Sibirtelecom distributed an official statement on the approval of the deal with Alfa-Bank. The statement says that the deal is being carried out on the basis of Alfa-Bank's commercial proposal to pay off the company's debt to the Ministry of Finance and Vnesheconombank for debt obligations from 1995 and 1997. Based on the agency agreement, Alfa-Bank will pay off Sibirtelecom's debt and become the operator's creditor. The terms of the debt restructuring include a three-year installment plan for the overdue portion of the debt at 6% per annum.

Yesterday, Alfa Bank was unable to comment on the upcoming deal, citing its incompleteness. Vladimir Shibanov, head of public relations at Sibirtelecom, also declined to disclose details of the agency agreement: "The company does not consider it possible to disclose details of the deal." According to Shibanov, 10 out of 11 members of the board of directors of Sibirtelecom voted to approve the deal, and one abstained. The abstainer was Igor Repin, an expert at the Association for the Protection of Investor Rights. It was not possible to contact Repin yesterday.

Alfa Group President Mikhail Fridman has repeatedly stated the group's interest in telecommunications assets, including the privatization of Svyazinvest. Analysts tend to link the consolidation of Svyazinvest's regional subsidiaries' debts with the privatization of Svyazinvest. "I believe that Alfa Bank is participating in the deal in order to have a weighty say in the consideration of the issue of Svyazinvest's privatization. And the fact that Alfa has become the main creditor in Sibirtelecom specifically does not mean any particular interest in this operator - most likely, the focus is on Svyazinvest as a whole," says Vadim Kotikov from Aton. At the same time, Kotikov considers the deal quite logical from a business point of view: "Telecommunications companies are now among the most reliable debtors. They have stable revenue growth and a stable financial position. The positions of Sibirtelecom specifically also look attractive - according to data for the first quarter of 2003, the company's debt to equity ratio was 39%. This is a very good indicator."

Bank instead of the state