MOSCOW, March 17 (UPI) -- Global currency trader George Soros has agreed to sell his stake in a Russian state-controlled telecom holding company to a local investor.
Soros' disposal of his stake in Svyazinvest ends his involvement in what he once called the "worst investment of my life," the Financial Times reported Wednesday.
The stake is believed to have been sold for between $600 million and $700 million to Access Industries, a company controlled by Len Blavatnik, a Russian investor.
The sale paves the way for a privatization of the state's 75 percent holding in Svyazinvest, which holds controlling stakes in seven regional telecoms groups and has an interest in Rostelecom, a national long-distance carrier.
Svyazinvest's privatization is expected to boost Blavatnik's stake in the entity.
