Vimpelcom writes off $25 mln in Southeast Asia
MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) - Vimpelcom's investments in Southeast Asia, which it took on before the 2008 crisis continue to bring losses.
A review of the company's business plan in Laos revealed losses of $25 million, Vimpelcom reported.
The company already announced losses of $31 million in the first quarter of 2013 after the sale of Cambodian operator Sotelco, bought in 2008 from Vimpelcom's majority shareholder Altimo.
Vimpelcom started to pull out of the Southeast Asian market in 2012: it sold 49% of Vietnam's GTEL Mobile to the controlling shareholder for $45 million.
VimpelCom Lao Co., which Vimpelcom has a 78% share of, was named by dealers as one of the assets the company was considering getting rid of. However, Vimpelcom CEO Jo Lunder said last week that the company does not have any current plans to sell its subsidiary in Laos.
VimpelCom Lao had 286,000 customers in the third quarter of 2013 with average revenue per user (ARPU) of $6.1.
Vimpelcom Ltd. Announced last year that it was analyzing several Asian (Cambodia, Laos) and African (Burundi, Zimbabwe and Central African Republic) assets to select optimum development plans for each. Since then Vimpelcom has sold off Sotelco and reached an agreement to sell its businesses in Burundi and Central African Republic for $100 million. Vimpelcom has already received half the amount for the Burundi and Central African Republic assets from an unnamed buyer, but the deal has not been closed yet.
