Sistema chief says held talks with RCom over joint venture, no sale planned

MOSCOW/MUMBAI (Reuters) - Russian billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov, owner of conglomerate group Sistema , said on Friday that he has held talks with tycoon Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications about a joint venture in India.

But Yevtushenkov said he had no plans to sell his Indian telecoms unit, Sistema Shyam Teleservices.

"We've been talking to different people regarding business expansion," he told Reuters, in response to a query on an earlier media report.

"Honestly, there is nothing much to say."

He said talks with several parties were ongoing, but gave no detail.

Bloomberg reported earlier on Friday that Reliance Communications was in talks to acquire Sistema's Indian wireless business.

 

Reliance Communications had no immediate comment.

(Reporting by Anastasia Teterevleva and Nivedita Bhattacharjee; Editing by Clara Ferreira Marques)