Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor Group, will join the supervisory board of Vimpelcom with immediate effect, the Russian telco announced.
He replaces former Telenor executive VP Jan Edvard Thygesen on the Vimpelcom board, who has been…
Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor Group, will join the supervisory board of Vimpelcom with immediate effect, the Russian telco announced.
He replaces former Telenor executive VP Jan Edvard Thygesen on the Vimpelcom board, who has been appointed deputy CEO and COO of Vimpelcom as of January 1, 2012.
Baksaas is currently also a board member of Svenska Handelsbanken, GSMA Association and the Advisory Council of Det Norske Veritas (DNV).
The move comes in the midst of a dispute between two of Vimpelcom’s three top shareholders, Telenor and Alfa-Group’s Altimo.
A shareholder’s agreement between the two was set to expire this week after Altimo’s decision to reduce its investment in Vimpelcom to just below 25%.
The termination of the agreement is challenged by Telenor in the courts, and the companies have recently settled on keeping their agreement in place until the arbitration tribunal announces a ruling.
According to earlier reports, Altimo had wanted to give Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris seats on the Vimpelcom board. This reportedly contradicted the agreement with Telenor.
Sawiris’ Weather Investments II is Vimpelcom’s largest shareholder, controlling 29.6% of shares. Telenor has a 25.007% stake in the company, according to the Vimpelcom website.
