Chairman of the supervisory board of Alfa Group consortium Mikhail Fridman attends a session during the Week of Russian Business, organized by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), in Moscow, Russia March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
OSLO: Norway’s Telenor has sold a 4% stake in Amsterdam-based mobile network operator Veon for US$259mil (RM1.15bil) as part of an ongoing campaign to cut all ownership ties to the firm formerly known as Vimpelcom.
After years of conflict between Telenor and Veon’s biggest owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, Telenor decided in September 2015 to sell all shares in the firm.
In the transaction lead by Citigroup and Morgan Stanley on Friday, Telenor sold 70 million Veon shares at a price of US$3.75 each.
“This is another step in the process to sell our Veon shares,” a Telenor spokesman told Reuters.
Following the sale, Telenor owns 346.7 million Veon shares, equal to 19.7%, including shares tied to an exchangeable bond which commits Telenor to deliver Veon shares worth US$1bil when it falls due in 2019.
Telenor’s remaining 346.8 million Veon shares are currently worth around US$1.3bil, and if the value drops below US$1bil when the bond expires it must pay the remaining amount in cash.
Telenor now faces a 60-day lockup period but would be free to sell more Veon shares after that, the spokesman said. - Reuters
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