The shareholders of Russian company VimpelCom Ltd today approved the merger with Wind Telecom, owned by Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris.
The merger got 53.3% of the voting shares at the Special General meeting, but of the public shareholders, 39.8%…
The shareholders of Russian company VimpelCom Ltd today approved the merger with Wind Telecom, owned by Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris.
The merger got 53.3% of the voting shares at the Special General meeting, but of the public shareholders, 39.8% voted in favour and 60.2% against.
VimpelCom’s two major shareholders, Russia’s Altimo and Norway’s Telenor, have been at odds over the merger with the former in favour and the latter against.
“Even though we believe VimpelCom would have been better off without this deal, we will now continue to work in the best interest of VimpelCom and its shareholders, as well as to help ensure that management eventually deliver positive results from both the existing and the newly acquired operations,” said Telenor Group spokesman Dag Melgaard.
Telenor also said that it would continue its arbitration proceedings in London to secure the pre-emptive rights it said it was deprived of as a result of the Wind transaction.
If the deal is completed as expected in H1, Telenor will hold 31.7% of economic interest and 29.3% of voting rights, while Altimo will hold 31.4% and 36.4% respectively. VimpelCom minority shareholders will represent 17% of the economic rights and 15.7% of the voting rights.
VimpelCom is advised by UBS, Deutsche Bank and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Wind Telecom chose EFG-Hermes and Lazard as M&A advisers, while Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Ibrachy Law Firm are legal advisers. Citigroup was financial adviser and provided a fairness opinion to the supervisory board of VimpelCom.
