VimpelCom is looking to sell a number of its African and Asian divisions in order to focus on its core operations.
The Russian telco has spoken to potential buyers for its businesses in Burundi and the Central African Republic, according to media…
VimpelCom is looking to sell a number of its African and Asian divisions in order to focus on its core operations.
The Russian telco has spoken to potential buyers for its businesses in Burundi and the Central African Republic, according to media reports. It is also expected to sell its Zimbabwean business, Telecel Zimbabwe.
The three African businesses are said to be valued at more than US$60m.
In Asia, VimpelCom is looking to sell its operations in Cambodia and Laos. It has already sold its business in Vietnam.
“We always considered the three small African units as peripheral to VimpelCom, so we would not be surprised if the company decided to dispose of them,” Igor Semenov, director – equity research, EMEA Telecoms at Deutsche Bank, told TelecomFinance today.
“In Asia, the two remaining units are sub-scale and after disposing of Vietnam can no longer be considered a cluster, so the divestment would also make sense to us in order for management to concentrate on core operations.”
Standard Chartered is said to be advising VimpelCom on the strategic review, which is reportedly a move to focus on more developed European markets which make up the majority of the group’s business.
The telco is retaining its businesses in Algeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“We are executing a value agenda for each of our businesses [including] the entities mentioned, because they are early-stage emerging areas in our portfolio,” a spokesperson at VimpelCom told TelecomFinance. “We will look at all options during this process but have no further comment concerning the progress we have made.”
