Altimo Demands a Billion from Telenor
After a short break in the legal battle between the co-owners of cellular operator VimpelCom, Altimo and Telenor, the Russian holding filed a $1-billion suit against Norwegian Telenor for lost profit. Altimo claims that money was not earned in Ukraine because Telenor hindered the VimpelCom's entry into the Ukrainian market. The suit was filed in the Geneva international commercial arbitration court by Altimo subsidiary Altimo Eco. Altimo manages the telecommunications assets of Alfa Group.
Altimo, which controls 44 percent of VimpelCom, estimates that it lost a total of about $2.7 billion in profit due to the resistance of Telenor, which owns 29.9 percent of the cellular operator, after VimpelCom bought Ukrainian operator Ukrainian Radio Systems for $231.3 million in August 2005. That purchase led to a two-year conflict between the Norwegian and Russian companies. Eventually, the courts sided with Altimo.
The new suit was unexpected, especially after VimpelCom's merger with Golden Telecom, which Altimo owns 26.6 percent and Telenor 18.3 percent. Experts say there are grounds to Altimo's claims, but the chances of proving that Telenor acted intentionally caused those losses by acting outside normal business practice are slim. VimpelCom now has a 4-percent share of the Ukrainian market.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 26, 2008
|
