VimpelCom and its subsidiary Global Telecom Holding have announced the closing of the sale of 51 percent in Algerian mobile operator Djezzy to the Algerian National Investment Fund for USD 2.6 billion.
GTH and the fundI have entered into a shareholders agreement, which governs their relationship as shareholders in Djezzy going forward. GTH will continue to exercise operational control over the operator and, as a result, both GTH and VimpelCom will continue to fully consolidate Djezzy.
At closing, GTH terminated its international arbitration against the Algerian state initiated on 12 April 2012 and the parties to the arbitration settled the arbitration and all claims relating thereto. At the same time, the foreign exchange and import restrictions put in place by the Bank of Algeria against Djezzy on 5 April 2010 were lifted, following the payment by the company to the Algerian Treasury of the fine of DZD 99 billion (approximately USD 1.1 billion). In addition, Djezzy has written off the related tax receivable on its balance sheet.
Shortly prior to closing, Djezzy and its wholly-owned subsidiary Optimum Telecom Algerie established credit facilities with a syndicate of Algerian and international banks in an amount of DZF 82 billion (approximately USD 0.9 billion).
