OJSC North-West Telecom is entering the final stage of reorganization in the form of affiliation with OJSC Rostelecom, which was approved by the shareholders of OJSC N.W.Telecom at the Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders on 19th June 19.06.10 (see the Press Release of 19.06.10).

It s planned that on 25th March 2011 OJSC North-West Telecom will file to the registering authority an application for making an entry in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities ( hereinafter referred to as “USRLE”) on the termination of its operation in connection with the affiliation with OJSC Rostelecom.  

In compliance with the requirements of the Federal Financial Markets Service of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as “FFMS"), such information shall be published in the newswire in the form of data that can significantly influence the value of the securities of the joint-stock company, which, according to the rules of stock exchanges, may entail the suspension of trading up to the date of reorganization.

The date of making an entry on the termination of the operation of OJSC N.W.Telecom in the USRLE will be the date of completion of the affiliation . OJSC North-West Telecom’s common shares and preferred shares , as well as bonds, will be converted into common shares and bonds of OJSC Rostelecom respectively. The conversion will take place at the same time with entering in the USRLE the data on the termination of the operation of OJSC N.W.Telecom in connection with the affiliation with OJSC Rostelecom, which is expected on 1st April 2011.

Thus, as a result of the reorganization, trading in the securities of OJSC N.W.Telecom, including shares, depositary receipts corresponding to them and exchange-traded bonds, will be stopped.

According to the rules of stock exchanges, decision s as to stopping the trading in securities that are cancelled as a result of reorganization are taken no later than the working day following the day of the publication of the information on the reorganization by the issuer. Proceeding from this, it is expected that the trading in OJSC N.W.Telecom’s securities in Russia’s and foreign trading venues will stop on the next day after such publication .

The trading in new issues of common shares of OJSC Rostelecom and exchange-traded bonds at Russia’s stock exchanges will start after the reports on the results of the securities issue are generated and registered at the RF FFMS. According to the rules of the RF FFMS, reports are registered within 14 days. Trading in 1st Level American Depositary Receipts for shares of new issues in the framework of foreign trading venues will be possible after the registration of the said reports, too.