Altimo raises Vimpelcom stake, withdraws Telenor complaint

News Wireless Russian Federation 16 AUG 2012
Altimo raises Vimpelcom stake, withdraws Telenor complaint

Russian investor Altimo announced the acquisition of 305 million additional shares in VimpelCom, equal to 14.8 percent of voting rights, from Weather Investments II for USD 3.6 billion. As a result of this deal and other additional purchases on the market, Altimo’s stake in VimpelCom increased to 40.5 percent of voting rights. 

Altimo also withdrew its complaint against Weather II and Telenor, which claimed Telenor's acquisition of additional shares in VimpelCom in February violated the company's statues and required a mandatory buy-out offer for all shares in the company. A Telenor spokesman told Bloomberg that the move by Altimo should also put an end to a lawsuit brought by Russian competition regulator FAS against the company, which accused Telenor of violating foreign investment laws with the acquisition of shares from Weather. The FAS suit also suspended dividend payments by Vimpelcom. 

Altimo said it’s seeking to further increase its stake in VimpelCom and is looking to buy shares from Telenor. “We are calling on Telenor to sell some of its shares to even our stakes in the company,” Altimo’s Vice President Evgeny Dumalkin told the news agency. “We believe that Russian and foreign shareholder must have equal stakes in VimpelCom."

Categories:

Mobile

Companies:

Telenor,  Altimo,  Vimpelcom,  Weather Investments

Countries:

Russian Federation

Tags:

Voice services, Shareholders & subsidiaries, M&A buyouts & divestments

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