Telenor said in a press release Thursday the lawsuit has been filed against Altimo, along with other companies, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, in connection with Altimo's purchase of a 9.5% stake in Russian mobile operator VimpelCom [RTS: VIMP].
VimpelCom is jointly controlled by Altimo and Telenor. Eco Telecom, CTF Holdings, Crown Finance and Rightmarch are also included in Telenor's lawsuit.
The complaint describes how on two occasions Alexei Reznikovich, Oleg Malis and Mikhail Fridman, Alfa Group board members who also sit on VimpelCom's board, received advance notice of VimpelCom's financial results and proposed dividends, and caused Eco Telecom and the other Alfa Group defendants to purchase VimpelCom ADRs and shares in the open market prior to VimpelCom's public disclosure of such information.
"Telenor has taken this action to protect the rights and interests of VimpelCom and its shareholders," said Jan Edvard Thygesen, Executive Vice President and Head of Telenor in Central and Eastern Europe.
Telenor's lawsuit alleges that in its purchases of VimpelCom shares and ADRs during the period from August 2006, Alfa Group committed numerous violations of U.S. securities laws, including making false, misleading and incomplete filings with the SEC, failing to comply with US tender offer rules, and engaging in insider trading.
"Those who sold VimpelCom shares during this period were not informed of Alfa's intentions and, as a consequence, traded on the basis of incomplete information," Thygesen said.
Telenor owns 29.9 per cent of the voting shares in VimpelCom.
