Telenor-Altimo conflict with a touch of politics
The Norwegian telecommunication major Telenor’s investments in Russia could be in trouble if a Siberian court today rejects an appeal case from the company. Meanwhile, an article in the International Herald Trubune concludes that the Telenor-Altimo conflict has a serious negative impact on Norwegian-Russian political relations.
A court in Khanti-Mansiisk will to day present its verdict in Telenor’s appeal case. The Norwegian company earlier lost a case initiated by Farimex, the owner of the modest 0,002 percent of the Vimpelcom company. Farimax claims 2,8 billion USD for what it sees as losses from Telenor’s failed conduct in Vimpelcom.
Telenor’s 33,6 percent stake in Russia’s mobile phone operator number one Vimpelcom has the last couple of years been the subject of severe corporate conflict with the company’s other main owner, the Altimo company.
The trouble started in 2004, when Telenor opposed Altimo’s plan for VimpelCom, their partnership in Russia, to buy a Ukrainian mobile operator, Ukrainian Radio Systems.
Farimax believes it has lost serious sums from Telenor’s blocking of the Ukrainian deal.
-This case is terrible and unreasonable as before. However, we have to take it seriously. Afterall, we are talking about huge sums, Telenor’s press spokesman Dag Melgaard says to NTB. –We do not accept that this is any reason for any compensation at all, he adds.
The case could eventually end up in the Russian Supreme Court, newspaper Dagbladet reports. Telenor argues that all corporate disputes have to be solved by the arbitrary court in Geneva.
With powerful business and political interests involved on both sides, the dispute broadened. Telenor is 54 percent owned by the Norwegian government. Altimo is controlled by Mikhail Fridman, a Kremlin ally and the chairman of Alfa Group, one of the largest telecommunications investors in Russia.
According to journalist Kevin J. O’Brien in the newspaper International Herald Tribune, the Telenor-Altimo case is a subject of a looming political-level tensions between Norway and Russia. Refering to an analyst, he writes that “the relationship between the two countries is in crisis at the moment” and that the corporate conflict “Telenor-Altimo is a part of that.”
