Towards Russian-Norwegian telecom fusion?
The Russian newspaper Vedomosti reports that Norway’s Telenor is close to an agreement with its Russian partner, the Alfa Group, to merge their Russian and Ukrainian mobile telecoms businesses, Vimpelcom and Kyivstar
According to Vedomosti, the merger deal was proposed by the Russian side. If such an agreement is concluded, it would end a five-year boardroom war between Telenor and its Russian partners which has weighed on the share prices of both Vimpelcom and Telenor.
Telenor officials have not commented on the information in Vedomosti, web site e24.no reports.
As BarentsObserver reported, Russian Federal Bailiffs Service earlier this month authorized the sale of most of Norwegian telecom company Telenor’s shares in VimpelCom. Telenor owns 29,9 percent of VimpelCom which is Russia’s second biggest mobile phone operator.
Telenor’s 15,3 million VimpelCom shares, or more than 25 percent of the company, were frozen by bailiffs in March as collateral against a USD 1,7 billion damages claim. Those damages were awarded by a Siberian court. Telenor claims the court is corrupt and acted illegally.
