Business Services Industry

Telenor ASA tenders its shares in Golden Telecom Inc

Nordic Business Report, Feb 6, 2008

Norwegian telecomms group Telenor ASA said on Tuesday (5 February) that it has tendered all its shares in Golden Telecom Inc (Nasdaq: GLDN), pursuant to Lillian Acquisition Inc.'s tender offer for 100% of Golden Telecom.

Lillian Acquisition is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russian mobile operator VimpelCom, Telenor added.

As Golden Telecom is a US-listed and Delaware-registered company, the USD 4.3bn transaction ranks as the second-biggest international acquisition ever made by a Russian company, the company said.

Telenor owns 18.3% of Golden Telecom's shares of common stock. Lillian Acquisition has made an all cash offer of USD105 per share.

If the tender offer is completed and all conditions to it have been met or waived, Telenor should receive a total of some USD773m for its Golden Telecom shares.

If the acquisition of 100% of Golden Telecom is successful, Telenor will indirectly own 33.6% of Golden Telecom through Telenor's ownership of 33.6% of VimpelCom's common stock.

Telenor is a mobile operator, with nearly 83m subscribers in 12 countries and a provider of television services in the Nordic region. Telenor has some 27,600 employees and annual revenues of nearly NOK70bn. Telenor is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker 'TEL' and on Nasdaq under the ticker 'TELN'.

One British pound (GBP) is worth approximately 1.99 US dollars (USD). One British pound (GBP) is worth approximately 10.73 Norwegian kroner (NOK).

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