Onexim considers taking stake in Russia's Rostelecom - paper

MOSCOW -

Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov's holding company Onexim is looking into buying a 10.5 percent stake in state-controlled telecoms group Rostelecom from Marshall Capital, financial daily Vedomosti reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said businessman Konstantin Malofeyev's fund, Marshall Capital, was seeking to sell the stake for 51.6 billion roubles (1 billion pounds), or 167 roubles per share compared to the share price on Tuesday of 119 roubles.

The discussions currently centre on the price of a possible deal, Vedomosti said, citing unnamed sources who also suggested Prokhorov might be interested in the stake as a financial investor.

Shares in Rostelecom were up 2.77 percent by 0722 GMT against a 0.24 percent decline in a broad market index <.MCX>.

Onexim and Marshall Capital declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Britain's Supreme Court lifted an order freezing the stake which had been seized over a case brought by state-owned bank VTB .

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova, Polina Devitt and Anastasia Teterevleva; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Jane Merriman)