Telenor: Prefers VimpelCom, Kyivstar Merger To Asset Swap"
MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor said Tuesday that it would prefer to merge assets that it co-owns with Russia's Altimo rather than swap stakes and remain sole owner of just one operator.
Telenor and Altimo, a telecommunications arm of Russian financial-industrial group Alfa Group, co-own Russia's Vimpelcom and Ukraine's Kyivstar.
"The best idea for us would be to merge VimpelCom and Kyivstar, create a strong regional player and expand with it internationally," Kjell-Morten Johnsen, head of Telenor's Moscow office, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Johnsen's comments followed an interview of Altimo's chief executive Alexei Reznikovich in Russian newspaper Vedomosti, where he said that Telenor and Altimo's cooperation isn't working out and that the two companies should separate their businesses, naming asset swap as one of the options.
Altimo and Telenor have been in conflict for over a year following a disagreement over VimpelCom's expansion into Ukraine.
Reznikovich told the paper that Altimo's investment into VimpelCom is of top priority, suggesting that Altimo would prefer to remain sole majority investor in VimpelCom, while selling its stake in Kyivstar to Telenor.
Altimo owns 33% in VimpelCom and 43% in Kyivstar. Telenor owns 27% in VimpelCom and 56% in Kyivstar.
Kirill Babayev, Altimo's deputy CEO in charge of communications, declined to comment on Reznikovich's interview.
Johnsen said that Telenor can't say which of the two - VimpelCom or Kyivstar - it prefers.
In any case "Altimo should make an offer to us, if they want an asset swap, and we will answer, rather than go via newspapers," Johnsen said.
Altimo and Telenor also co-own a Russian fixed-line operator Golden Telecom, but both investors say that there is no conflict there and it won't be included in any asset division.
"The situation in Golden is stable, there are no big issues surrounding that company," Johnsen said.
Company Web site: http://www.altimo.org
www.telenor.com
-By Anna Ivanova-Galitsina, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 974 80 55; anna.galitsina@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 26th September 2006
