Russian conglomerate Sistema's real estate unit shelves bond sale

MOSCOW, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 15 (Reuters) - Lider Invest, a real estate unit of Russian business conglomerate Sistema, said on Friday it had postponed indefinitely a planned bond sale, citing an unfavourable environment.

Sistema is entangled in a multi-billion-dollar legal dispute with state-controlled oil major Rosneft which obtained a court order to freeze around $5 billion of Sistema's assets, including a 98.78-percent stake in Lider Invest.

"We expect that conditions for the placement in 2018 will be more beneficial for the company than now. Investors and the market need time to calm down and be able to take considered decisions," the company told Reuters in emailed comments.

The company declined to elaborate on the reasons for investors' worries.

Lider Invest, which builds residential housing and business centres, had planned to sell 4 billion roubles ($68 million) of exchange-traded bonds on Dec. 26.

The bond sale has been postponed indefinitely, the homebuilder said in a disclosure note on Friday.

The postponement will have no impact on the company's operational activities or slow the pace of construction, the company said.

Sistema on Tuesday cancelled the sale of shares in another of its units, toy retailer Detsky Mir, citing investor concerns over the freezing of Sistema's assets. ($1 = 58.8950 roubles)

(Reporting by Olga Sichkar; writing by Maria Kiselyova)