Telenor Gets Majority Stakes in VimpelCom, Drops Arbitration Claims

Telenor Group, in a latest development, has bought 234,000,000 VimpelCom preferred shares from Weather Investments for US$374,400,000, to increase its voting rights at VimpelCom from 25.01 percent to 36.36 percent and to become majority stake holder in VimpelCom, said a statement issued by the Telenor Group.
Just to recall, Mr. Naguib Sawiris and his family last year bought 29.63 percent stakes in VimpelCom through Weather Investments in exchange of Orascom Telecom.
Weather’s shares in VimpelCom, after this transaction, will come down to 18.28 percent.
In connection with this new buyout of shares, Telenor has withdrawn all its claims against Altimo Holdings & Investments Ltd., Altimo Cooperatief U.A. and VimpelCom in the pending arbitration proceeding, and will work to expand the VimpelCom Board to eleven members.
Check below the previous and present voting rights of various groups in VimpelCom:

It merits mentioning here that Mobilink is currently fully managed by VimpelCom, which is now majorly owned by Telenor Group, also the parent group of Telenor Pakistan, creating a potential situation for conflict of interest in Pakistan and Bangladeshi markets.
To put in simpler words, 5 out of 11 directors at VimpelCom board (who directly manages Mobilink) come from Telenor International, a group that also controls Telenor Pakistan.
This translates into a proposition according to which Mobilink and Telenor Pakistan will be owned by same group (Telenor International) at a parent group level.
The outcome can potentially form a cartel in Pakistan which may not be favorable for competitors such as Ufone, Warid Telecom and CMPak.
Though Competition commission of Pakistan had approved the deal, but this new transaction may arise new situation for the industry, especially when 3G auction is round the corner.
In a related news, Telenor wants to drop its Indian joint-venture partner Unitech after the Supreme Court revoked their mobile licences in the country and is seeking a new local partner. Telenor said it would seek indemnity and compensation from Unitech.
And Unitech has replied by threatening counter legal action.

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Electricity projects on top of Ahmadinejad’s agenda

“Pakistan attaches high priority to its relations with Iran,” said Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, add-ing that the three projects would help ease energy crisis. - File photo

ISLAMABAD: Talks between Pakistan and Iran during the forthcoming visit of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will mainly focus on cooperation in energy sector.

“Pakistan and Iran have agreed to complete at fast pace projects for importing electricity to enhance bilateral relations in the field of trade, energy and economy,” Iranian Ambassador Alireza Highighlian told Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar here on Tuesday.

At present three electricity import projects are under way, the first of them is of 35MW which will be enhanced later to 70MW.

While matters relating to importing 100MW have been finalised and the project is ready for groundbreaking, the two countries have moved forward on another 1,000MW project.

The issue of tariff for the projects is in negotiations stage.

The ambassador said he was satisfied with the pace of progress, adding that Iran was keen to invest in various other projects.
The minister said that cooperation in various fields of economy would enhance bilateral relations.

“Pakistan attaches high priority to its relations with Iran,” he said, add-ing that the three projects would help ease energy
crisis.

“Pakistan is also encouraging Iranian investment in infrastructure projects,” he said.

The visit by the Iranian president would open up new avenues of cooperation, he added.

Ambassador of Tajikistan Zubaidullu Zabaidov also called on the Minister for Water and Power and discussed Casa-1000 project about import of 1,000MW electricity from that country through Afghanistan.

The Tajik ambassador stressed the need for introducing direct flights from Pakistan to Tajikistan in order to boost trade and tourism.

He invited the minister to participate in the Regional Economic Conference for Afghanistan to be held in Tajikistan next month.

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Ahmadinejad leaves Tehran for Islamabad’s trilateral meeting

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has departed for Pakistan to take part in a tripartite summit on regional cooperation and developments.

The two-day Islamabad summit will open on Friday with the participation of the Iranian president and his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari. 

We hope that the Islamabad meeting would take bigger steps toward the promotion of regional cooperation and the restoration of peace and stability in the region, President Ahmadinejad told reporters before departure on Thursday. 

He said that all solutions put forward by extra-regional countries failed to contribute to the restoration of stability in the region. 

Iran’s chief executive said that foreign interference and military presence have aggravated the situation and called for a regional solution to re-establish security in the region. 

Ahmadinejad said that the people of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan need to join hands to confront insecurity, terrorism as well as plots hatched by enemies to sow division among regional countries and dominate the region. 

The two previous trilateral meetings were held in the Iranian capital, Tehran. 

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