The merger of VimpelCom and Kyivstar moves a step closer today, as VimpelCom shares begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Trading was cleared to begin after VimpelCom completed an exchange of OJSC VimpelCom and American Depositary shares in Russia yesterday, having already completed a similar exchange in the US mid-April.
The exchange was previously approved by authorities in Russia and Ukraine, but only got the go-ahead last week when a legal challenge by Farimex against Telenor, a majority shareholder in VimpelCom, was dropped.
Telenor now holds a 39.6% stake in VimpelCom, with fellow majority stakeholder Altimo holding 39.2%. In terms of voting rights, the pair’s stake is 36% and 44.7% respectively.
Minority shareholders hold the remaining 21.2% of VimpelCom, and 19.3% of the voting rights.