Azerbaijan sells govt stake in mobile venture

BAKU, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's Communications Ministry has sold a 35.7 percent stake it owned in Azercell Telecom, the country's largest mobile phone operator, the state property committee said on Monday.

The stake was bought by Fintur Holdings B.V., which had held 64.3 percent in the company before the deal, an Azercell official told Reuters. Fintur Holdings is majority owned by Nordic operator TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST: Quote, Profile, Research).

The committee did not disclose the value of the deal. It said auditors Ernst & Young had valued the stake at $180 million.

Azercell Telecom's networks cover 78 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan and service 3 million subscribers. (Reporting by Afet Mekhtiyeva; Writing by Maria Kiselyova; editing by Sue Thomas)