Svyazinvest drops plan to acquire Rostelecom stake from VEB

The management board of Russian telecommunications holding company Svyazinvest has decided to end early its agreement with the Russian bank VEB, reports Tass-Telecom. A similar decision was earlier taken by the supervisory board of the bank. Svyazinvest was obliged to acquire 71.4 million shares in national operator Rostelecom under the agreement concluded with the bank in June 2011. The decision to drop the acquisition is due to changes in the planned merger of Rostelecom and Svyazinvest.