Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and the Government Commission on Foreign Investments in Strategic Companies are willing to settle their dispute with Telenor over its stake increase in Vimpelcom provided certain conditions are met. Most…
Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and the Government Commission on Foreign Investments in Strategic Companies are willing to settle their dispute with Telenor over its stake increase in Vimpelcom provided certain conditions are met. Most importantly those conditions include a requirement that the head of the Russian unit, OJSC VimpelCom, be a Russian citizen.
In a statement summarising a recent meeting between the FAS and the government body, the FAS said it approved proposals put forward by the government commission to resolve the dispute, which began when FAS filed a claim in the Moscow Arbitration Court contending Telenor’s February purchase of 234 million VimpelCom shares from Weather Investments II for US$374.4m violated foreign investment laws.
A final proposal will be submitted to Telenor shortly, the FAS said, noting the government is keen to see the matter resolved as quickly as possible.
Telenor filed a claim of its own with the Supreme Court of Bermuda in mid-June, seeking a declaration that the February stake increase, which saw it increase its voting share in VimpelCom from 25.01% to 36.36%, did not, as fellow VimpelCom shareholder Altimo alleged, trigger a mandatory tender offer for all outstanding shares. Telenor and Altimo, part of the Russian Alfa Group, have long disputed VimpelCom’s ownership and governance.
A Telenor spokesperson said today that, in line with FAS head Igor Artemyev’s comments at a recent press conference, the company expects to receive a proposal from the regulator within a couple of weeks seeking a solution before the scheduled court hearing on 17 October.
“There is no agreement reached at this state, but we would clearly not oppose a Russian head of the Russian VimpelCom,” he said.
The parent company, VimpelCom, is based in Amsterdam and registered in Bermuda, while VimpelCom OSJC (Beeline) is based in Moscow.
The Russian business already has a Russian head: Anton Kudryashov.
