VimpelCom General Director Alexander Izosimov attends news conference of Beeline and Warner Music Group, August 10, 2006.
Photo: Grigoriy Sobchenko
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VimpelCom Buys Golden Telecom for $4.24bn
VimpelCom cellular giant (Beeline brand) will pay $4.24 billion for Golden Telecom, the Wall Street Journal reported with reference to sources close to the deal. The deal is expected to be announced today, December 21, 2007.
VimpelCom will pay $105 for each stock of Golden Telecom, which is in line with the previously agreed limits. The premium amounts to 5 percent of company’s quotes at close of December 20 trading.
As a result of the deal, the first integrated provider of mobile and telecom services will emerge in Russia. As of late October, VimpelCom had over 61 million subscribers in Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia. VimpelCom intends to further expand on the market, offering the high-speed Internet services.
According to WSJ, this deal of VimpelCom signals its holders, Norwegian Telenor and Russia’s Alfa Group, have reached the compromise.
Golden Telecom is an independent operator with its own infrastructure for providing complex telecom and Internet services. It is represented in Moscow, Kiev, St. Petersburg, Nizhni Novgorod, Samara, Kaliningrad, Krasnoyarsk, Alma-Atu and Tashkent. Altimo that manages the telecom business of Alfa Group has 29 percent in Golden Telecom, Telenor owns 20 percent, Rostelecom holds 11 percent.
Altimo and Telenor are the principal holders of VimpelCom, owning 44 percent and 29.9 percent of the voting stocks respectively.
www.kommersant.com
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