OREANDA-NEWS. On 16 July 2009 Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (the “Company” or “MTS” – NYSE: MBT), the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, announced successful closing of the syndication for its syndicated term loan facility originally signed in May 2009. Due to additional demand, the facility was oversubscribed by nearly USD 100 million, bringing the total amount of the facility to USD 695 million1.

The original syndicated loan singed in May 2009 was for USD 295 million and €214 million. On July 14, 2009, five international banks joined the group of 14 Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners, which resulted in the oversubscription.

The proceeds of the facility from May 2009 were used to refinance the USD 630 million three-year tranche of MTS’ USD 1.3 billion syndicated loan, which was originally signed in April 2006. The additional commitments raised post senior stage concluded in May 2009 will be used for general corporate purposes of the Company.

This three-year facility carries a margin of 650 basis points per annum over LIBOR/EURIBOR and will be repaid in three semiannual installments after a two-year grace period.

Mr. Alexey Kornya, acting Chief Financial Officer at MTS, commented: “Our ability to refinance the facility and to subsequently increase the size of the loan is a testament to the strong fundamentals of our business considering the unprecedented volatility in the international capital markets. It is particularly pleasing to note that MTS has been able to attract new lending banks in addition to our existing core group of banks. This facility provides MTS with additional financial flexibility to continue our investment programs and meet our future obligations”.

The five new participating financial institutions include VTB Bank (Deutschland) AG as the Lead Arranger of the facility; ZAO Svenska Handelsbanken as an Arranger and Alpha Bank A.E., Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG and ZAO Banca Intesa as Managers.

The original group of Mandated Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners consists of Absolut Bank; Banc of America Securities Limited; Bank of China (ELUOSI); Bank of China Limited; Bayerische Landesbank; BNP Paribas; Credit Suisse International; Export Development Canada; HSBC Bank plc; ING Bank N.V.; J.P. Morgan plc; the Royal Bank of Scotland; Joint-Stock company Banque Societe Generale Vostok; Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Bank Paris; UniCredit Group represented by ZAO UniCredit Bank and UniCredit Bank Austria AG and WestLB AG, London Branch.

Credit Suisse International and ING Bank N.V. acted as coordinating banks for the facility and ING Bank N.V. (London branch) is acting as the Facility Agent.

1 The syndicated term loan facility is denominated in both dollars and euros.  The actual amounts are USD 360 million and €238 million using the dollar:euro exchange rate of 1.4084 as of July 15, 2009.