Norway takes action in VimpelCom case
-I am very disappointed about the arrest of Telenor’s shares, Norwegian Minister of Industry Sylvia Brustad says. –This is the most critical bilateral issue in our relations with Russia, she underlines.
Ms. Brustad has now requested Russian Deputy Prime Minister Zubkov for a meeting on the Norwegian telecommunication company’s investment in Russia, a press government press release reads.
The Norwegian reaction came after Russian authorities yesterday arrested Telenor’s shares in the powerful Russian mobile phone company, the second biggest in Russia. Telenor sees the arrest as an obvious theft of its property. -This is a yet another escalation of the attempts to steal our VimpelCom shares with the aid of Russian courts, said Jan Edvard Thygesen, Executive Vice President and Head of Telenor’s Central and East European operations in a company press release.
-We are interested in helping Telenor secure its values in Russia. If this forced sales of shares is carried out, it will send a very negative signal to all companies interested in investing in Russia, she adds. She confirms that she is using all channels available for helping Telenor and that she is in a close dialogue with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister about the issue.
Telenor controls 33,6 percent of the common shares in VimpelCom through its subsidiary Telenor East Invest AS, has been involved in a year-long corporate conflict with the other major VimpelCom owner the Alfa Group.
The arrest of the Telenor shares comes after Telenor has declined to pay a 1.7 billion USD damage claim awarded by the Omsk court. The company regards the court ruling as illegal and “outrageous”.
The arrest of the shares started after a US federal court in New York yesterday held four Alfa Group companies in contempt for the second time for their failure to comply with the court’s orders confirming the Kyivstar arbitration award, the Telenor press release reads.
