UrBC, Moscow, January 24, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon’s shareholders approved of purchasing a controlling shareholding in mail.ru Group during an extraordinary general meeting on January 20, the company press service reports.

There were 209,293,635 votes for and 10,765,598 votes against the deal, with 176,600 voters abstaining from voting.

MegaFon intends to buy 63.8% of mail.ru Group’s voting shares (15.2% of the company’s authorized capital) from its controlling shareholder, Alisher Usmanov and partners’ USM Group.

The transaction is estimated at $740m, with $640m to be paid at the moment of purchase and the remaining $100m a year later. MegaFon plans to finance the deal with its own funds and doesn’t intend to borrow any.

Once the deal has been through, both MegaFon and mail.ru Group will remain independent market competitors: both companies will have their own management teams, and any possible contracts will be landed on free market terms, MegaFon reported earlier. No major changes are expected in either the Group’s activity or its corporate governance practices.