Russian Alfa wants divorce with Vimpelcom partner

MOSCOW, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Alfa Group, one of the key owners of Russia’s No.2 mobile phone company Vimpelcom, is seeking to part with the other core owner, Norway’s Telenor , an official at Alfa’s telecoms division Altimo said on Tuesday.

“We are thinking about possibilities of a divorce with Telenor,” the Altimo official told Reuters. “An asset swap could be one of the possibilities.”

The official declined to elaborate, adding only that the investment in Vimpelcom was a priority for Altimo.

Analysts at Aton Capital said Altimo’s decision was positive for Vimpelcom, as the divorce would finally provide the company with a clear shareholder structure and long-term strategy.

“Vimpelcom’s shares could also see additional upside, as both Altimo and Telenor are interested in getting full control over the company. However, we believe the negotiations could be difficult and time consuming,” Aton said in a research note.

Altimo and Telenor have been battling for months over Vimpelcom’s decision to buy a small Ukrainian company, a move supported by Altimo.

Telenor was against it, saying the price for the firm with a tiny market share was too high, but analysts pointed out Telenor already controlled Ukrainian market leader Kyivstar and might have been unhappy with support for a potential rival.

Telenor has already offered a divorce, with a key condition being that Alfa must agree to a market-based separation mechanism which will allow the party offering the highest price for Vimpelcom shares to buy out the other.

It has proposed that the winning bid be extended to all shareholders.

But Alfa did not agree with the scheme.

Apart from a 26.6 percent in Vimpelcom, Telenor owns 56.5 percent in Kyivstar and 20 percent in Russian fixed-line operator Golden Telecom .

Alfa has 32.9 percent of Vimpelcom, 43.5 percent in Kyivstar and 30 percent in Golden Telecom

Source- http://asia.news.yahoo.com

Technorati : Golden Telecom, Kyivstar, Mobile, Russia, Telenor, VimpelCom
Ice Rocket : Golden Telecom, Kyivstar, Mobile, Russia, Telenor, VimpelCom