The FINANCIAL — According to RIA Novosti, Farimex, a minority shareholder in Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom, has initiated an investigation by Ukraine's Anti-Monopoly Committee against Telenor, Norway's telecoms giant said on May 18.
"Farimex…is also behind an investigation launched by the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) against Telenor and [Ukrainian mobile operator] Kyivstar," Telenor said on its website.
"Telenor was officially notified of the commenced investigation on May 7 this year," it said.
Following a lawsuit filed by Farimex, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands and holds 0.002% of VimpelCom's stock, Russia's 8th Arbitration Appeals Court in late February ordered Telenor, a core shareholder in VimpelCom (29.9%), pay $1.728 billion to the Russian operator VimpelCom.
The lawsuit claimed the Norwegian telecoms operator had delayed a deal to purchase Ukrainian cell phone operator Ukrainian Radio Systems.
In 2004-2005, Telenor resisted VimpelCom's attempt to enter the Ukrainian market and buy into cell phone operator Ukrainian Radio Systems, as it put VimpelCom in direct competition with the Norwegian company's other interests in Ukraine.
A total of 26.6% of Telenor's stake in VimpelCom has been frozen as part of February's court ruling on the Farimex lawsuit.
Tenelor also said on its website Monday that Farimex claims Telenor, Kyivstar and Storm are "in breach of Ukrainian Competition legislation by including a non-participation clause in the Shareholders agreement and that Telenor hindered competition in Ukraine through delaying VimpelCom's acquisition of Ukrainian Radio Systems (URS)."
But Jan Edvard Thygesen, who heads Telenor's operations in Central and Eastern Europe, said: "Telenor is a strong defender of competition and believes the AMC has been sadly misled by Farimex."
Trond Moe, Country Manager of Telenor Group Ukraine, said inclusion of non-participation clauses was standard practice. "Non-participation clauses are normally included in agreements between partners worldwide, so too between the Kyivstar shareholders in the agreement signed in 2004. This was done in order to promote fair competition and avoid monopolization of the market," he said.
"The agreement restricts each party from holding more than 5% in competing businesses in Ukraine without the other party's consent. It regulates affairs between two shareholders, and in fact opens up for more actors in the market, rather than restricts competition," he said.
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