By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia’s second-largest mobile phone operator VimpelCom [RTS: VIMP] said on Tuesday it had received a $3.5 billion syndicated loan to finance the purchase of Russian telecoms company Golden Telecom.
The loan managers, which include ABN Amro Bank, BNP Paribas, Barclays Capital, Calyon, HSBC Bank and UBS Limited, started to syndicate the loan late last year and in January, Lillian Acquisition, VimpelCom’s subsidiary, made an offer to buy 100% of Golden Telecom’s stock at $105 per share.
Golden Telecom shareholders are expected to respond to the offer by February 15.
Golden Telecom provides integrated telecom and Internet services in major Russian cities and former Soviet republics. Its major shareholders are Altimo, which manages the telecoms assets of Russian holding company Alfa Group (26.6%), Norway’s Telenor (18.3%), and Rostelecom (11%).
Altimo and Telenor are also core shareholders of VimpelCom, possessing 44% and 29.9%, respectively, of the company’s voting stock.
VimpelCom operates in Russia under the Beeline trademark.