Moscow, Russian Federation – PJSC MTS (NYSE: MBT, MOEX: MTSS), the leading telecommunications operator and digital service provider in Russia, announces that the Company has reached an agreement with Sistema PJSFC (LSE: SSA, MOEX: AFKS), a publicly traded diversified Russian holding company, to sell its 18.69% stake in Ozon Holdings Limited (OZON) for RUB 7.9 bln.

Under the terms of the agreements, the shares will be transferred to Sistema PJSFC through MTS’s wholly-owned subsidiary Dega Retail Holding Limited.

MTS became the shareholder of OZON in April 2014 through acquisition of 10.8% shares for RUB 2.7 bln. Then MTS increased its stake to 18.69% throughout a number of transactions with minority shareholders and additional share issuance. In total, MTS invested RUB 5.9 bln in Ozon since 2014.

Alexander Gorbunov, Vice President, Strategy and Development, MTS, commented:

"We are happy with the results of our cooperation with OZON, both in terms of insights and experience gained, as well as its financial performance as an investment. The current shareholder structure of OZON limits MTS’s ability to increase its share to a controlling stake in the near future, hindering any further integration of OZON services into the MTS ecosystem.

That said, we remain committed to further development of our e-commerce capabilities, and see substantial growth potential in the market. We focus on developing assets that allow us to achieve maximum synergies through convergence with MTS products and services, and to create cross-selling opportunities. We see great potential in the on-going integration of our ticket operators Ticketland.ru and Ponominalu; we continue to increase sales through our MTS online store; and hope to realize substantial synergies from our investments in YouDo, where MTS holds a 13.7% stake.”

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For further information, please contact in Moscow:
Investor Relations Department
Mobile TeleSystems PJSC
Tel: +7 495 223 2025
E-mail: ir@mts.ru