Vimpelcom shareholder Telenor plans to sell 33% stake on LSE eyeing no less than USD 2.3bn; hires advisors
Norwegian telecom group Telenor is planning to sell its 33% stake in telecom holding Vimpelcom Ltd on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in September this year, the online version of Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported, quoting a publication in TMT Finance.
Telenor hopes to raise no less than USD 2.3bn for the stake, according to the above publication which quoted unspecified sources. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan have been appointed as the coordinators for the deal, while Citi and Credit Suisse were appointed joint bookrunners.
The intention of Telenor to sell the 33% stake in Vimpelcom on the market was confirmed to Vedomosti by a source close to one of the partners of the Nordic telco.
The source explained that Telenor cannot find a buyer for the entire stake. The stake is not large enough and it does not grant the necessary rights, thus Telenor has hired investment banks, and instructed them to examine a possibility of selling shares on the market, the source was quoted as saying.
According to Vedomosti, Vimpelcom's main shareholder LetterOne - an investment group of Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev – has the pre-emptive rights to acquire the shares in the telco. However, LetterOne is not interested in acquiring Telenor’s 33% stake, as Fridman has previously confirmed.
Vedomosti reported that, based on the aforementioned USD 2.3bn figure, Telenor values Vimpelcom shares at USD 3.9 each. On Friday, 29 July, the company's shares were trading at USD 4.13 each on NASDAQ, the report added.