The FINANCIAL — VimpelCom Ltd. (“VimpelCom” or the “Company”) (NYSE: VIP) announced on January 17 that VimpelCom’s Supervisory Board gave its final approval for the proposed combination of VimpelCom and WIND TELECOM S.p.A. (“Wind Telecom”, formerly Weather Investments S.p.A.) (the “Transaction”).
Six of nine directors, including all three independent directors and the three Altimo-nominated directors, voted in favor of the Transaction, with the three Telenor-nominated directors voting against the Transaction, according to VimpelCom.
Following completion of the Transaction, VimpelCom will own, through Wind Telecom, 51.7% of Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E. (“Orascom Telecom”) and 100% of WIND Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. (“Wind Italy”). The combination of VimpelCom and Wind Telecom, as previously announced on 4 October 2010, will create the world’s sixth largest mobile telecommunications carrier by subscribers with pro forma adjusted net operating revenues of US$21.3 billion and pro forma EBITDA of US$9.4 billion for the year ended 31 December 2009.
The management and the Supervisory Board continue to believe strongly in the strategic rationale of the Transaction which will create a new global telecom player with significant scale and an attractive mix of developed and emerging market assets, well-positioned to realize profitable growth.
Jo Lunder, the Chairman of VimpelCom’s Supervisory Board, commented: “VimpelCom’s Supervisory Board is pleased to approve this transaction. This combination will create a top-tier global telecoms company and should drive significant value for all our shareholders. While we acknowledge Telenor’s divergent view, we believe that the majority of our shareholders recognize the strategic and financial merits of this transaction. In the end, as it should be with a public company, it will be the special general meeting of shareholders that will make the final determination.”
Alexander Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom, added: “We have made substantial progress since we announced this transaction last October and we remain on track to close in the second quarter of this year. We continue to believe that this transaction offers our shareholders exposure to attractive growth markets and the opportunity to diversify further our revenue base in terms of geography, currency and market characteristics. It also positions VimpelCom to take full advantage of the significant opportunities that we see in the fast-growing mobile data services market.”
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