Avantel Avantel

Avantel is a universal telecom operator in the Russian B2B market. Since 2002, provides communication services throughout Russia.

History

2021: Completion of acquisition of Avantel by ER-Telecom Holding

On August 10, 2021, ER-Telecom Holding informed TAdviser of the completion of the acquisition of 100% of the combined Avantel group of companies.

ER-Telecom bought the universal telecom operator Avantel < br/> Source photo: alex.sibneon.ru

According to representatives of the holding, the association of companies will allow ER-Telecom to significantly strengthen its position in the services segment for business and government customers, as well as in the operator market of Moscow, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Barnaul, Nizhnevartovsk, Nefteyugansk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Samara and St. Petersburg.

The further development of the combined company opens up opportunities for improving the quality of customer service and expanding Internet, VPN and telephony access services.

Avantel is one of the largest alternative operators in Russia with strong market positions in Moscow and Siberia. The deal is of strategic importance to us. It contributes to the consolidation of the market, allows us to strengthen our position in the capital, the Volga region, Siberia and the Far East, as well as reach other regions, including the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. We intend to preserve the best practices and experience gained by both companies by offering our existing and potential customers a qualitatively different level of service and innovative services. The process of integration of Adventel will be gradual and seamless. There are no inconveniences and restrictions for current and future subscribers, said Andrei Kuzyaev, president of ER-Telecom Holding JSC.

2018

Rostelecom's intention to resume negotiations on the purchase of Avantel

Rostelecom is going to resume negotiations on the purchase of the fixed-line operator Avantel. This was reported to CNews by a source close to the state-owned company. "So far, Rostelecom has not reported such an intention," Avantel CEO Andrei Goncharov told CNews in June 2018 and confirmed the representative of Rostelecom.

Avantel provides fixed telephony, Internet access and data centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and other cities. Clients of the company are more than 12 thousand legal entities.

Rostelecom received permission from the Federal Antimonopoly Service to acquire Avantel in 2017. Avantel CEO Andrei Goncharov says Rostelecom conducted the due diligence (assessment) of Avantel. However, at the end of 2017, the deal was postponed, while the results of due diligence were valid only until the end of 2017^[1].

FAS approval of Rostelecom deal

At the beginning of 2018, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) approved the acquisition of 100% of the Avantel operator by a subsidiary of Rostelecom - Bashinformsvyaz. However, the transaction was never carried out.

2017: Negotiations with Rostelecom on the purchase of Avantel Holding

Rostelecom is negotiating the purchase of the Avantel holding, which provides communication services to corporate customers. This was reported in May 2017 by Vedomosti, citing sources familiar with the situation. According to the publication, Rostelecom is already collecting information and conducting an expert assessment of information about the acquired asset. Both operators, however, do not give any comments on this issue.

The amount of the transaction is not known, but the revenue of Avantel in 2015 amounted to about 1.14 billion rubles. For comparison, this is comparable to how much the large Siberian operator Novotelecom earned (about 1.5 billion rubles), which was eventually estimated at 2.2-2.5 annual revenues. Accordingly, the cost of Avantel may also amount to about 2-2.5 billion rubles, the publication suggests.

The provider was founded in 2002 in Novosibirsk, but as of May 2017 it operates throughout Russia, providing companies with broadband, pay TV, center date, cloud services, etc. The owner of Avantel was Cyprus Gosiri Assets Ltd.

Although the main business of Avantel is concentrated in Siberia, it also works in other federal districts - the company's offices are located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara. The operator provides telephony, data and other telecom services. Its customers are more than 12 thousand companies (data as of May 2017).

2016: Revenue - 1.2 billion rubles

According to the Contour-Focus base in 2016, the company's revenue amounted to 1.2 billion rubles, sales profit - 110 million rubles, net profit - 22 million rubles.

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