Wireless Federation

Telenor urges VimpelCom shareholders to reject Wind purchase (Norway,Russia)

On 03.04.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Telenor ASA has asked VimpelCom Ltd. shareholders to reject VimpelCom’s proposed merger of its telecommunications assets with those of Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris.

According to Telenor, it has suggested VimpelCom to pay an extra dividend of at least $1 a share instead of pursuing the merger with Sawiris’s Wind Telecom.

As per the company, the excessive focus on the Wind Telecom transaction has already harmed the interests of all VimpelCom shareholders, as VimpelCom has fallen from second to third place in the Russian market.

Telenor opposes a plan by mobile-phone operator VimpelCom to issue new stock representing 20% of shares outstanding and 31% of voting rights to investors in Wind Telecom. The Norwegian company argues that most of Wind’s profit comes from Italy, which is a mature market counter to VimpelCom’s strategy of investing in emerging markets.

Telenor shareholders will meet on March 17 to vote on the issue of 630 million shares needed to complete the combination with Wind Telecom in a deal valued at about $6.5 billion. On March 1, a court in London rejected Telenor’s request for an order blocking the meeting.

The Norwegian company holds more than 39% of VimpelCom shares, approximately the same stake as Russia’s Alfa Group, which supports the merger. Alfa Group, which participates in VimpelCom through its telecom subsidiary Altimo, has 44.7% of votes to Telenor’s 36%.

Moscow Federal Arbitration Court rejects latest TeliaSonera, Altimo merger appeal (Russia)

On 02.22.11, In Mobile, By Editor

If reports are to be believed, Russia’s Federal Arbitration Court for the Moscow District has upheld a lower court’s earlier ruling to reject a long-mooted deal concerning the ownership of Russian cellco MegaFon.

The argument involves Nordic telecoms group TeliaSonera and Altimo, the telecoms arm of Russia’s Alfa Group, who are keen to combine their respective stakes in MegaFon and Turkey’s Turkcell.

The key shareholders sought to cancel the ruling issued by the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeals in October 2010, which sided with MegaFon’s third major shareholder, Telecominvest.

Telecominvest, which is owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, instituted legal proceedings to block the merger, claiming the deal violated Russia’s rules on foreign investment.

In December 2010, Igor Artemyev, director of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), confirmed that the Russian government’s commission for foreign investments had banned the transference of MegaFon shares to offshore companies as part of the deal.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Alfa Group • Altimo • billionaire Alisher Usmanov • Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) • Federal Arbitration Court for the Moscow • Igor Artemyev • MegaFon • Mobile • Norway • Russia • Telecominvest • TeliaSonera • Turkcell • Turkey

VimpelCom investors cautious of Sawiris deal

On 10.14.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Shareholders in VimpelCom have cast uncertainty on its $6.6bn deal to buy most of the telecoms assets of Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian entrepreneur.

According to Russia’s Alfa Group, VimpelCom’s largest investor, it had not decided whether it wanted to proceed with the deal if the Algiers government carried out its threat to nationalize Sawiris’ Algerian mobile business.

Telenor, VimpelCom’s second-largest shareholder, signaled that it was concerned that the deal could provoke regulatory objections in Bangladesh and Pakistan, where both the Norwegian telecoms group and Sawiris have mobile businesses.

Alfa and Telenor settled to team their assets in VimpelCom, and last week it planned to combine with Weather Investments, Sawiris’ private investment company. Weather owns Wind, Italy’s third-largest mobile operator, and has a 51.7% stake in Orascom Telecom, the Cairo-listed telecoms group.

According to Algerian government statements earlier this week, it was planning to hire banks to advice on the nationalization of Djezzy, Orascom’s Algerian business.

According to Mikhail Fridman, Alfa’s chairman, VimpelCom had not yet decided whether it was interested in the Weather deal if Djezzy was nationalized.

Telenor’s concerns with the Weather deal centre on the fact that it already has mobile businesses in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

As per Telenor, it was important there were no regulatory objections to the Weather deal in those countries where the Norwegian group already owned telecoms assets. If regulators did object in a particular country, the Weather deal could fall through. Alternatively, VimpelCom could opt not to buy assets in countries where Telenor was already present.