TeliaSonera, Altimo appeal Russia merger block (Russia)
Nordic telecoms group TeliaSonera has stated that Telia and the Altimo telecoms unit of Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman have appealed against a court ruling which blocked a telecoms business merger.
TeliaSonera wants to merge its shareholding in Russian mobile phone operator MegaFon with Altimo’s stake in Turkcell, Turkey’s largest cellphone operator, to solve an earlier dispute.
But the plan ran into opposition from another MegaFon shareholder, billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who owns about a one third stake via his Telecominvest Company.
Two Russian courts have blocked the deal, the latest in October. TeliaSonera stated that Telia and Altimo had now appealed against that latest ruling.
Telia’s headaches linked to Russian and Turkish operations began in 2005, when Turkish holding company Cukurova backed away from a deal to sell shares in Turkcell to Telia, opting instead for an agreement with Alfa Group, of which Altimo is a part.
VimpelCom approves a revised merger with Weather Investments
VimpelCom’s Board of Directors has approved the proposed merger of VimpelCom and Egypt based Weather Investments but added that it did not take a decision on certain shareholder-related issues.
As expected, six of the nine directors, including all three independent directors and the three Altimo-nominated directors, voted in favor of the Transaction, with the Telenor-nominated directors voting against the Transaction.
The Supervisory Board did not approve an amended Shareholder Agreement or vote on other shareholder-related agreements due to Telenor’s publicly stated position that, in its capacity as a shareholder of VimpelCom, it does not support the merger.
According to VimpelCom, in light of Telenor’s opposition as a shareholder, at this time no agreement has been reached with respect to the shareholder related agreements that were contemplated to be entered into in connection with the transaction.
Therefore, the Board has authorized the Company’s CEO to review and take into account the rights and obligations of the parties under the current VimpelCom Shareholders Agreement and bye-laws, and to negotiate further with Weather the terms and conditions under which Weather would be willing to enter into a revised transaction, taking into account that the Shareholder Related Agreements are unlikely to be signed and delivered. The Board has instructed the CEO to bring such revised terms, if any, back to the Board for consideration and approval.
RIA Says Russian Court cancels Turkcell, MegaFon deal
According to RIA Novosti news agency, Moscow’s court of appeal has confirmed that the merger between Russian mobile phone operator MegaFon and Turkish operator Turkcell is invalid.
Russian group Altimo and Nordic operator TeliaSonera agreed to merge their interests in Turkcell, Turkey’s biggest mobile phone operator, and MegaFon, Russia’s third-largest mobile phone operator, last November.
The merger had been brokered between TeliaSonera and Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa Group last year as part of a plan to resolve an ownership dispute over Turkcell.
According to TeliaSonera and Altimo, they would appeal the court’s decision one more time.
According to Cecilia Edstrom, head of TeliaSonera group communications, the company is disappointed by the decision, they believe the decision is wrong thus the company expects to appeal.
Megafon targeted by Russian state telco, Svyazinvest
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The state telecoms holding company Svyazinvest has shown its interest in buying mobile operator Megafon. Talks with Alisher Usmanov, owner of a 31.1 percent stake in Megafon are underway. The state is also interested in the blocking stake held by Alfa, part of Russian group Altimo.
Reorganization of Svyazinvest was approved by a government commission in May 2009. Since then, the purchase of a mobile operator to strengthen its operations is on the cards. Even AF Telecom Holding, managing Usmanov’s stake in Megafon, has expressed interest in cooperating with Svyazinvest. 31.1 percent stake in Megafon has been offered by the company in a joint venture created by Svyazinvest.
According to Russian minister of communications, Igor Shchegolev, the government would need to buy shares from Megafon’s other major shareholders, Altimo or TeliaSonera, but neither is willing to lower their stakes in Megafon. The Altimo and TeliaSonera deal needs approval by the Government Commission on Foreign Investments headed by the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Altimo of Russia joins bidding in Zamtel privatization
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to a research agency, the fourth bid from Russia’s Altimo has been accepted for controlling a stake in phone company Zambia Telecommunications Co.
The bid was submitted five minutes after the deadline which was December 23. Therefore it was not added to offers from Libya’s LAP Greencom Ltd together with LAP Green Networks, Angola’s Unitel Corp. and India’s state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd that day.
The short-listed bidders have been called for conducting further due diligence on Zamtel. They will be asked to submit a binding bid for a majority equity stake. The details of the next phase of privatization and of the indicative bids will be revealed on January 11.
In September, ZDA had announced that it was selling Zamtel, which also owns mobile-phone operator Cell-Z and Internet service provider Zamtel Online.
