Akhmetov's company reaches settlement on Ukrtelecom's sale

Cyprus-based Raga Establishment Limited and SCM Financial Overseas Limited have reached a settlement on the sale of Ukrtelecom in 2013, SCM's press service has reported.

"Today, October 1, 2019, Raga Establishment Limited and SCM Financial Overseas Limited formally and finally settled the dispute between them concerning the sale of Ukrtelecom in 2013," the report reads.

As part of the agreed settlement, all existing proceedings ongoing between Raga and SCM and their affiliates shall be discontinued.

SCM Financial Overseas Limited, a company owned by Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov, acquired Ukrtelecom's shares in Raga Establishment Limited (formerly called EPIC Telecom Invest Limited) in 2013, two years after the telecoms operator was privatized. The transaction amounted to $860 million. However, SCM Financial Overseas Limited paid only $100 million, explaining that the seller did not fulfill its investment obligations to the state undertaken during the privatization.

The trial then began and in 2017, the London Court of International Arbitration ordered SCM to pay $760 million to Raga Establishment Limited.

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