MTS to acquire 51% of Comstar for US$ 6/share, 24.6% premium to yesterday's close. MTS and Sistema (parent of both MTS and Comstar) have announced that MTS will US$ 1.27bn for 50.9% of Comstar, with the transaction expected to close by October 2009. No decision has been made regarding whether to extend the offer to Comstar's minority shareholders. We expect slight negative reaction to the news as valuation implies 4.9x 2009F EV/EBITDA for Comstar, which has limited growth prospects and higher leverage than MTS.