Telenor has filed for a court injunction in a further attempt to stop Vimpelcom's proposed takeover of Wind Telecom and Orascom Telecom. Telenor, the second-largest shareholder in Vimpelcom, opposes the acquisition and subsequent dilution of its stake in Vimpelcom due to a share issue to finance the deal. Telenor has already started arbitration proceedings against Vimpelcom and its other major shareholder Altimo, which has approved the deal. The Norwegian company claims the shareholders agreement at Vimpelcom gives it pre-emptive rights on any shares issued to finance the deal. Telenor filed with the Commercial Court in London for an injunction that will require Vimpelcom to issue to Telenor its pre-emptive rights shares at the same time that Vimpelcom issues shares to the Wind Telecom shareholders. The Telenor shares would be placed in escrow until the arbitration tribunal has reached a decision, on the condition that Telenor pays the full purchase price for its shares to the escrow agent when the shares are issued. If the arbitration tribunal agrees with Telenor, then the shares would be released to Telenor and the purchase price released to VimpelCom. Should the tribunal decide against Telenor, the shares would be returned to VimpelCom for cancellation and the purchase price returned to Telenor. Telenor said the proposal would "ensure that no party will be unfairly disadvantaged if the Wind Telecom acquisition is completed as presently proposed".
