In the dispute between Russian antitrust regulator FAS and Vimpelcom shareholders Telenor and Weather Investments II, a court has imposed limitations to the two shareholder’s voting rights.
The injunction order issued by the Moscow arbitration court…
In the dispute between Russian antitrust regulator FAS and Vimpelcom shareholders Telenor and Weather Investments II, a court has imposed limitations to the two shareholder’s voting rights.
The injunction order issued by the Moscow arbitration court was announced by Vimpelcom.
According to the company, the order blocks Telenor and Weather II from exercising their voting rights in Vimpelcom to change the composition of the supervisory board. The court also prohibits the investors from exercising their put and call options agreement, signed earlier in the year.
On 15 February, Telenor had bought 234 million Vimpelcom preferred shares from Weather II for US$374.4m, thereby increasing its voting share to 36.36%.
FAS later alleged that the share purchase violated Russian strategic investment law and asked the court to invalidate the arrangements between Telenor and Weather II.
Telenor said in an emailed statement that it is aware of Vimpelcom’s statement, but that it has not yet been formally notified of the claim by FAS or the court. “We continue to believe we have fully complied with the strategic investment law as it has been interpreted and applied to date,” Telenor added.
The arbitration court also limited the voting rights of NYSE listed Vimpelcom in OJSC Vimpelcom, the company’s Russian subsidiary. Vimpelcom said that under the order, it is not allowed to vote on changes to the OJSC board of directors, or to approve major transactions and interested party transactions. Other shareholder rights are not affected.
The first court hearing is scheduled for 17 October.
