The British government has sold the Truphone communications group, owned by Russian businessman Roman Abramovich and his partners, to two European entrepreneurs for £1.
According to the "Financial Times" newspaper, the new owners of the company are German businessman Hakan Koch, who specializes in used cars, and his business partner Perros Kosius, who is associated with telecommunications. As previously reported by British media, Koch was to receive 90% of the assets. The company and Kosius on 10%.
British newspapers also reported that the decision to sell Truphone was due to the sanctions imposed by the British and European Union authorities on Abramovich, who owned 23% of the company's shares, and most of the rest was owned by his partners in mining and metals, Evraz Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov.
The deal was studied for several months by Britain's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to comply with the National Security and Investment Act. According to The Daily Telegraph, London's main concern was that Koch had ties to Russia.
According to the "Financial Times", the approval of the British Ministry was received last month, and last week the license for the deal was issued by the Financial Sanctions Enforcement Agency operating under the supervision of the Kingdom's Ministry of Finance.
"We can finally continue working," Koch said in an interview with the "Financial Times."
Truphone develops eSim technology, which allows calls to different service providers without having to replace SIM cards, and also sells flexible data package plans for international use on mobile phones.
Previously, British media reported that in the past, the company was valued at half a billion pounds.