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VimpelCom agrees to buy Golden Telecom: WSJ

OAO VimpelCom, Russia's second-largest mobile-phone company, has agreed to purchase Golden Telecom Inc for about US$4.3 billion, to create Russia's first integrated mobile and fixed-line provider.

VimpelCom's board decided to pay US$105 a share for the Russian Internet, voice and data provider, the Moscow-based companies said in a statement reported. That is 4.9 percent higher than the closing price on Thursday.

Alexander Boreyko, an official at VimpelCom's investor relations department, and Alexey Subbotin, Golden Telecom's investor relations head, did not answer calls to their office telephones after working hours.

The acquisition would create Russia's first integrated mobile and fixed-line provider. VimpelCom, which had more than 61 million subscribers at the end of October in Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia, plans to expand into more markets and services such as broadband Internet.

Golden Telecom said on Nov. 8 it had 394,900 broadband subscribers in Russia and plans to become the leading high-speed Internet provider in the nation and in other former Soviet countries.

Golden Telecom has said it would spend more than US$1 billion expanding fiber-optic networks to cover 65 Russian cities with a total population of 65 million.

The broadband Internet provider, which also operates in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, said Nov. 8 that its third-quarter profit more than tripled to US$74.4 million on sales of US$350.4 million.

Moscow-based VimpelCom's shares rose 4.4 percent to US$39.38 in New York trading yesterday.

Golden Telecom, also based in Moscow, declined 0.2 percent to US$100.06 in trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange yesterday.
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