Alfa Group, Telenor agree to merge VimpelCom, Kyivstar
MOSCOW. Oct 5 (Interfax) - Norwegian Telenor and Russian Alfa Group have agreed to merge VimpelCom and Ukrainian Kyivstar, ending a prolonged battle over the future of the two jointly owned assets.
"The parties have reached an agreement to combine their holdings in OJSC Vimpelcom and Kyivstar into a new jointly-owned mobile telecoms operator, Vimpelcom Ltd," Telenor and Altimo, which manages Alfa Group's telecommunications assets, said in a joint statement.
Vimpelcom Ltd will be incorporated in Bermuda, headquartered in the Netherlands and listed on the NYSE.
Alfa Group will have 43.9% of voting shares in the new company, Telenor will have 35.4% and 20.7% of voting shares will be in free float.
The VimpelCom board has given its backing to the deal based on the conclusions of the special working group made up of three independent directors, the mobile operator said in a statement.
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