MOSCOW, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Russian long-distance call provider Rostelecom said on Friday it had spent 6.1 billion roubles ($196.8 million) on a mandatory share buyback as part of its merger with seven regional telecom firms.
Rostelecom, at the centre of a restructuring of parent company Svyazinvest, said it bought 151,113 ordinary shares and 70,041,903 preferred shares from shareholders who did not support the reform through the merger of Svyazinvest's units.
That represents just above 7 percent of its total issued share capital, Rostelecom said.
The company, which could only spend an equivalent of no more than 10 percent of its net asset value, said it had received requests for shares worth a total of 7.3 billion roubles.
The restructuring, aimed to boost state-run Svyazinvest's efficiency and enable the government to play a bigger role in the telecoms sector, was approved last year.
Rostelecom's shares were trading 0.38 percent higher by 0717 GMT, outperforming broad market index which fell 0.31 percent. ($1=31.00 Rouble) (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)