Euroset mobile network operator to hold IPO in fall of 2008

ST. PETERSBURG, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's largest mobile handset retailer Euroset will hold an initial public offering (IPO), a company co-owner said Saturday at an international economic forum in St. Petersburg.

"Euroset will choose underwriters for an IPO in the first quarter of 2008, and float shares in the fall of 2008," Yevgeny Chichvarkin said, adding that the placement could take place earlier if the company took favorable loans.

Chichvarkin said that Euroset was likely to place its shares on the Russian RTS, a non-regulated stock exchange, while the London Stock Exchange (LSE) recently toughened its IPO requirements.

"I do not think it is worth taking pains to target an IPO on the London [stock] exchange," Chichvarkin said.

The businessman controls Euroset on a parity basis with a partner, Timur Artemyev. Together, the two own Cypriote Morefront Holdings Ltd., which holds a 92.47% stake in Dutch Dalnink Holding N.V., Euroset's managing company.