Sergei Aslanyan, 34, a former vice president at Mobile TeleSystems, the country's largest mobile phone operator, now has a three-year contract as Sitronics CEO, Sitronics spokeswoman Yelena Sanarova said Wednesday. MTS is also controlled by Sistema.
Aslanyan, who was in charge of network and information technology at MTS, will focus on working with shareholders and increasing the number of clients at home and abroad. Sitronics posted a loss of $79.8 million Sept. 12 for the first half of this year on delayed contracts, including contracts for MTS. Its shares dropped 8.7 percent that day.
"He has management experience with MTS during the company's rapid growth and MTS is a large customer of Sitronics," Sanarova said. That, coupled with Aslanyan's technical expertise and knowledge of the market, made him a strong candidate for the post, she said.
Sitronics' former CEO, Yevgeny Utkin, will develop "new high-technology projects" within Sistema, she said, declining to elaborate. Sanarova said Utkin remained a Sitronics board member and a shareholder in its Kvazar-Micro unit. She declined to say whether he would sell his stake and said Utkin was not available for comment because he was abroad.
Sitronics raised $402 million in a share sale in February.
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