AT&T Corp’s AT&T CIS Ltd says it is highly unlikely that it will invest in Russian telecommunications holding company AO Svyazinvest given continued corporate restructuring at AT&T. Italy’s Stet SpA and France Telecom had also expressed an interest. AT&T will probably not bid because it is distracted by its restructuring into three units. Stet won a first tender for 25% of Svyazinvest last year (CI No 2,806) but the deal fell through after Stet refused to pay an initial installment on its investment until Svyazinvest’s 85 subsidiaries had been re- registered. Stet’s total bid of $1,300m, comprising cash payments and investment promises, would have been the biggest single foreign investment into Russia.
