FEDERAL SERVICE OF JUDICIAL POLICE OFFICERS TO PUT ON SALE VIMPELCOM SHARES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
08.06.2009 17:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia’s federal service of judicial police officers
will put on sale VimpelCom cellular operator’s(Beeline trademark)
holding of shares. In all, 15 million 338 thousand (26,6 %) stocks
will be put up to auction. The average price totals some $263 for
each stock. Last summer Farimex initiated a court proceeding against
Telenor, VimpelCom and Altimo in a distant court of Khanty-Mansiysk
in Western Siberia, Russian Federation. Farimex accused the three
companies of having caused losses to VimpelCom by delaying VimpelCom’s
acquisition of URS. The Khanty-Mansiysk court held Telenor solely
liable for VimpelCom’s alleged late entry into the Ukrainian mobile
market and ordered Telenor to pay VimpelCom USD 2.8 billion in
damages. This decision was cancelled by the Omsk court on 29 December
2008. However, on 20 February 2009 the court ruled to hold Telenor
liable for USD1.7 billion. The court gave Farimex a writ of execution
to claim the amount that resulted in arrest of all Telenor shares
in VimpelCom on 11 March 2009. Telenor has appealed the decision
of the Omsk court and the appeal will be heard in Tyumen in Western
Siberia on 26 May 2009. Telenor contends it’s the victim of a pressure
campaign by the Alfa Group, a powerful oil-to-banking conglomerate
controlled by a group of Russian billionaires. Alfa charges that
Telenor has put its interests ahead of those of the local telecoms
companies they both own stakes in – Russia’s OAO Vimpel Communications
and Kyivstar in Ukraine. Alfa is seeking a negotiated settlement,
most likely involving a merger of the Russian and Ukrainian holdings
into a company jointly controlled by Alfa and Telenor, according to
people close to the group. Embittered after five years of battling
its Russian partners, Telenor is more inclined to split the holdings,
though would consider other options, officials say. The two sides are
in contact regularly though it’s not clear whether or when any deal
might come. Telenor and Alfa have been fighting in courts in Russia,
Europe and the U.S. since 2005. As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter was told
in the press office of ArmenTel (VimpelCom’s branch), the decision will
not affect the company’s activities in the republic. "The activities
of companies included in VimpelCom group are not dependent on relations
between shareholders," the press office said.