VimpelCom, a NYSE-listed telecom group with operations in Russia, Italy, and some other markets, is selling two of its sub-Saharan assets and considering purchasing a Pakistani mobile operator, Reuters reported earlier this week, citing knowledgeable banking sources.
VimpelCom is believed to have sold its units in Burundi and the Central African Republic for $100 million to Laurent Foucher, an African investor running Neil Telecom. These units are currently part of Telecel Global, a VimpelCom possession.
The move comes as no surprise. Back in October 2012, VimpelCom unveiled plans to eventually call it a day with noncore markets. The latest sell-off is just the sub-Saharan phase of VimpelCom’s sayonara to these markets. Its recent selloffs in South Asia included Vietnam in April 2012 and Cambodia this past April. These sales represent necessary steps for a re-focusing on the group’s seven priority markets in Eurasia and North Africa.
Russia is one of these priority markets, and VimpelCom is one of the three largest telecom operators in the country. Pakistan is another priority, so the firm is currently in talks with Abu Dhabi Group over the potential acquisition of Warid Telecom.
The Pakistani operator, which Reuters said may cost VimpelCom as much as $1 billion, could become the telecom group’s second asset and represent the group’s second $1 billion investment in this Asian country. In December 2012, the company invested the same amount in Pakistan’s Mobilnik.
