PRESS: Russia’s VimpelCom owner offers to swap Telenor’s stake

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (PRIME) -- VimpelCom Ltd., the sole owner of Russian mobile operator VimpelCom, wants to swap its 57.8% in Cairo-headquartered operator Global Telecom Holding (GTH) for 12% of its own stock held by Norway’s Telenor, business daily Vedomosti reported on Wednesday, quoting several sources.

GTH controls mobile operators in Algeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh, serving over 96 million subscribers as of the end of September 2016.

A source close to VimpelCom Ltd. and Telenor management said the exchange looks reasonable and complies with the Norwegian company’s strategy, stipulating a retreat from developed markets in favor of emerging ones. Telenor has assets in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

One of the sources told the daily that such a deal would put an end to Telenor’s withdrawal from VimpelCom Ltd., in which it currently owns 23.7% of common and voting rights.

The Norwegian company would receive interesting assets in the emerging markets, while LetterOne of Russian tycoons Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichyov would remain the only shareholder of VimpelCom Ltd., the source said.

Another person familiar with the situation said the deal is still being negotiated.

Telenor said in late 2015 that it wanted to quit capital of VimpelCom Ltd., which was a complicated asset contributing only 8% of the Norwegian company’s value, its capitalization was decreasing, and there was no option to control its activities.

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