VimpelCom, a leading mobile operator in Russia and one of the world’s largest telecom group, announced yesterday that it agreed with its local partner in Vietnam on a financing plan for its Vietnamese joint venture, GTEL-Mobile.
Under this plan, VimpelCom could provide investments of up to $500 million through 2013. The company already completed the first stage of the financing plan by paying US$196 million for newly issued shares and thereby increasing its stake in GTEL-Mobile from 40% to 49%. VimpelCom’s local partner in the joint venture, GTEL, has retained a 51% interest in GTEL-Mobile.
The partners have also agreed that VimpelCom will assume operational management of GTEL-Mobile.
VimpelCom agreed in 2008 to create a joint venture with Vietnamese state corporation Global Telecommunications Corporation (GTel) and its subsidiary GTel TSC. Development projects were stopped, however, in Q2 2010 as VimpelCom and its Vietnamese partner began to renegociate their respective shares. The parties settled the issue almost one year later: VimpelCom increased its stake in GTel-Mobile and is likely to integrate the JV’s operational results in the group’s financial results.
GTel-Mobile counted about 800,000 subscribers at the end of 2010.
In the region, VimpelCom also owns a 90% stake in Sotelco, which ranks among Cambodia’s top 3 mobile operators. In addition, VimpelCom last month closed the acquisition of a 78% stake in Millicom Lao, for which it paid a total of $88 million, $23 million of which was used to pay off the debts of Millicom Lao.
Source: VimpelCom
