Telecoms projects

Project Summary Documents

Project Summary Documents (PSDs) are disclosed for each project prior to Board consideration. They contain project descriptions, financial details, client information, environmental issues, tender guidelines, and contact details. PSDs for private sector projects are disclosed at least 30 days prior to Board consideration and for state sector projects, at least 60 days.

Project Summary Documents

Signed projects

Board approval is the final stage in the project approval process. After Board approval, the EBRD and the client sign the deal and it becomes legally binding. Signed project lists reflect year-end data.

Signed projects  (0.1Mb) 

Benchmark transactions

The EBRD takes a flexible approach to financing. It meets diverse needs within the sector and can satisfy the different economic and regulatory requirements in each country.

The Bank provides a wide selection of financing to large and small companies throughout the region: from standard debt to highly sophisticated instruments combining debt and equity. Debt financing ranges from corporate loans to project finance, while equity can be provided at IPO time or though secondary private placements. EBRD also offers local currency financing, and whenever possible, it involves commercial banks.

Of the telecommunications and media projects in the EBRD's portfolio, a number stand out as useful examples of how the Bank has been able to catalyse and facilitate such transactions in its countries of operations.

Case studies

Turkish consortium in Albania boosts regional cooperation - 2008

llion in the modernisation of Albtelecom, the main Albanian telecommunications operator. One of the oldest companies in Albania, Albtelecom was established in 1912 and finally privatised in 2007. The Albanian government sold a 76 per cent stake to the consortium of Turk Telecom and Calik Enerji, a fully owned subsidiary of the Turkish conglomerate, Calik Group.

Albtelecom is catching up fast with modern services by introducing better-quality services for its customers. The company provides services to about 7 per cent of the country’s 3.6 million people. In March 2008, Albtelecom launched its mobile operations under the Eagle Mobile brand, the third mobile network in Albania. By September 2008, it had subscribed over 100,000 customers.

The EBRD investment is supporting the liberalisation and modernisation of Albtelecom to encourage competition in the market and tariff restructuring. This in return will benefit the Albanian people. Working with Turkish investors in Albania is also a good example of regional cooperation.

From 1996 to 2008, the EBRD has cooperated with 29 Turkish companies from Albania to Uzbekistan. Investments extended to various sectors included corporate, energy, financial institutions, general industry and infrastructure.

Creating a buzz in Russia’s Silicon Valley - 2006

One company that knows there is far more to the Russian economy than natural resources wealth is JSC Concern Sitronics, in which the EBRD acquired a 3.67 per cent stake in September 2006.

Sitronics, whose production facilities are in the city of Zelenograd near Moscow – the area known as Russia’s Silicon Valley – is a conglomerate of high-tech companies making everything from microchips to phone equipment and software.

So successful has Sitronics been at building up a coherent business in a fragmented global market that it notched up €725 million of consolidated sales in 2005 and announced plans to go public in 2007 with the first initial public offering (IPO) by a Russian high-tech company.

The EBRD’s €63 million investment in new Sitronics shares, provided in advance of the IPO, is helping to upgrade technology standards in Sitronics’ microelectronics branch, which already boasts the most advanced mass production facilities in Russia for microchips and integrated circuits.

The Bank’s investment will help to show that Russian knowledge-based and high-tech companies have the potential to become competitive and are committed to improving their business practices.

Sitronics is part of the Sistema group, the largest Russian financial-industrial group outside the natural resources sector. Sistema is a blue-chip company whose shares are publicly traded on Moscow and London stock exchanges.

Sitronics was rebranded at the beginning of 2006. Before that it was known as JSC Kontsern Nauchny Tsentre. The group employs 10,000 professionals and incorporates companies in the Czech Republic, Greece, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.

Sitronics sees the rebranding and the IPO as steps towards becoming the largest high-tech company in central and eastern Europe. It aims to rebalance its businesses, becoming less dependent on telecommunications, upgrading technology, making judicious acquisitions, and enhancing an already good record in corporate governance. It benefits not only from high-class products but also from the region’s highly skilled but inexpensive labour force and its extensive market knowledge and customer base.

Sistema has injected about €152 million of new equity into Sitronics to finance development and is committed to enhancing the quality of corporate governance in its businesses. The revival of Zelenograd as a scientific and industrial centre after the economic crisis of the early 1990s is largely due to Sistema.

“We value the EBRD as a shareholder. Its presence highlights our positioning as a European and not just a regional company,” said Sitronics President Evgeny Utkin. “It underlines our successful performance as a business and the fact that our treatment of minority shareholders meets international standards.”

Extending the phone network in Kazakhstan - 2003

Communities and businesses in Kazakhstan need a reliable phone network to provide an effective means of communication across this vast country. The national telecoms operator, Kazakhtelecom, is pursuing a network expansion and modernisation programme that aims to achieve this by providing advanced fibre optic connections across the country.

The EBRD has worked closely with Kazakhtelecom since 1999, helping to promote significant improvements in efficiency, management performance, corporate governance and financial results. In 2003 the EBRD stepped up our support for the company by extending a €87 million syndicated loan.

The seven-year loan, a record for the Kazakh telecommunications sector, was co-arranged by Standard Bank London and syndicated to a number of international banks. It will provide additional resources for investment in the development of Kazakhstan’s network and services.

“We are delighted with the confidence shown by the EBRD in our company through this record-breaking transaction and look forward to working with the Bank on future projects,” said Kanat Nurov, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Kazakhtelecom.

The EBRD will continue to support the telecommunications sector in Kazakhstan as it faces the challenges of market liberalisation and increased competition. Previous EBRD support has included assistance to the Kazakh Government in implementing a transparent regulatory framework for the sector. The governments of Japan and Taipei China each contributed €200,000 in donor funding for this programme while the European Community provided €364,000.