Ukrainian Court Declares Kyivstar's Voting Agreement Void

MOSCOW, May 29 (Prime-Tass) -- Ukraine's Kiev Arbitration Court of Appeals has declared the shareholder and voting agreements of Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivstar void, as the general director of Storm, Kyivstar's shareholder, had no rights to sign them, Storm's parent company Altimo said in a press release Monday.

"We welcome the decision of the court of appeals," Altimo's Vice President Kirill Babayev said, "and will continue our probe into motivation behind signing the deal in violation of corporate procedures."

Under the agreements, Kyivstar's top management is elected by the approval of five out of nine members of the board of directors and Storm has four seats on the board, while Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor has five seats.

Telenor holds 56.5% in Kyivstar, while Storm holds 43.5% in the company.

An affiliate of Storm, which is a fully owned subsidiary of Altimo, was challenging the voting agreement of Kyivstar and subsequently the shareholders agreement. Altimo claimed that the general director of Storm had no right to sign the voting agreement since the action had not been approved by Storm's shareholders. Altimo controlled 50% in Storm when it signed the voting agreement of Kyivstar, Altimo said.

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Posted to the site on 29th May 2006