VimpelCom, one of Russia's top three cell phone operators, expects to close a merger deal with Wind Telecom owned by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris within a month to create the world's fifth largest telecom operator, VimpelCom head Alexander Izosimov said on Tuesday.
"The deal will be closed within a month, after which we'll be able to speak about a new company in greater detail," Izosimov told journalists.
VimpelCom shareholders approved the enlargement of the company's authorized capital by issuing an additional 325.6 million ordinary and 305 million convertible privileged shares in favor of Wind Telecom on March 17. VimpelCom will also pay $1.495 billion in cash to Wind shareholders to close the transaction.
The deal will cut the share of Norway's Telenor, a VimpelCom shareholder, which strongly opposed the merger, to 25% of the voting stock from the current 36.03%, and the share of Altimo, the telecoms arm of Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group, to 31% from 44.65%. The share of VimpleCom minority shareholders will drop to 13.4% from 19.32%.
MOSCOW, March 29 (RIA Novosti)
