MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti) - VimpelCom (RTS: VIMP, NYSE: VIP) said Saturday it had placed loan participation notes worth $600 million and due in 2016, with an annual coupon rate of 8.25%.
The cell phone operator announced Friday the pricing of a previously disclosed private exchange offer for 10% notes due 2009 in exchange for the new notes due 2016.
VimpelCom, Russia's second largest mobile phone operator, is best known for the Beeline trademark in Russia and Kazakhstan, and also has newly acquired operations in Ukraine, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor holds 26.6% of shares in VimpelCom, with Russia's leading private equity group Altimo (previously Alfa Telecom), the telecoms arm of financial and industrial holding Alfa Group, holding a 32.9% stake.
