Reuters: Regulatory News: UPDATE 1-Telenor says has "pragmatic" view of Vimpelcom stake

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UPDATE 1-Telenor says has "pragmatic" view of Vimpelcom stake Nov 1st 2012, 08:00 Thu Nov 1, 2012 4:00am EDT OSLO Nov 1 (Reuters) - Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor would take a "pragmatic" stance if it received a bid for its 43 percent stake in Vimpelcom, in response to Russia's Altimo becoming Vimpelcom's largest shareholder. "It depends on whether somebody is interested in buying. It is a large stake worth somewhere between 35 and 40 billion Norwegian crowns ($6.13 to $7.01 billion)," Telenor spokesman Dag Melgaard said on Thursday. A report in the Financial Times earlier this week said Telenor would be open to selling its Vimpelcom stake. "What we are saying now is that if there is a bid, we will have a pragmatic stance," Melgaard added. Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Altimo earlier this week overtook Telenor as the dominant shareholder after it bought a 6 percent stake in Vimpelcom from Bertofan, a vehicle of Ukrainian tycoon Viktor Pinchuk, increasing its voting rights to 47.85 percent of the shares. The move could potentially settle a decade-old feud between the two which culminated in May when Russia's anti-monopoly regulator stepped in with a lawsuit contesting Telenor's dominant position and suspending dividends payouts. Telenor had suggested Altimo and Telenor should both buy shares from Bertofan to restore ownership parity after taking delivery of Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris' 71 million shares in Vimpelcom. "We proposed a solution to get parity in the company, and Altimo has now obviously made clear that they are not interested in that. They want control," Melgaard said. Analyst Tore Toenseth at Sparebank 1 Markets said he interpreted Telenor's comments as a change in attitude towards its Vimpelcom holding. "This indicates a greater openness towards a sale than we've seen until now. So this is a change in Telenor's rhetoric," Toenseth said. "I don't think it's realistic to think that they will get more than today's market value, which is around 36 billion Norwegian crowns." He added that a sale would likely lead to a big payout for shareholders. The FT had reported Chief Executive Jon Baksaas as saying: "It depends on what has been put on the table ... We should be pragmatic. We are realistic to the extent that others have a strong appetite." Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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