OREANDA-NEWS. May 06, 2011. Amsterdam and New York (May 6, 2011) – VimpelCom Ltd. (“VimpelCom” or the “Company”) (NYSE: VIP) announced that its subsidiary OJSC VimpelCom reached final agreements and signed the required documents to acquire 100% of the shares of Open Joint-Stock Company “New Telephone Company” (“NTC”) from KT Corporation and Summit Telecom Global Management B.V., subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation. The acquisition price for 100% of NTC shares is based on Enterprise Value of USD 420 million.

 VimpelCom expects to acquire 90% of NTC shares within the following four weeks. Immediately following the acquisition of 90% NTC shares VimpelCom will launch mandatory tender offer under Russian law to acquire the remaining 10% of the outstanding NTC shares. Completion of tender offer is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2011.

 NTC is a leading mobile operator in the Primorskiy region of Russia and provides voice and data services through a wide range of wireless, fixed and broadband solutions as well as IPTV and IP–telephony. In 2010, NTC recorded approximately RUR 3.4 billion in revenues and had a mobile subscriber base of approximately 950,000 as of 2010 year-end.

 Commenting on the transaction, Elena Shmatova, Head of the Russia Business Unit of VimpelCom, said: “We are happy to have reached agreements to acquire NTC and look forward to closing the transaction. The acquisition substantially enhances our position in one of the most important regions in the Far East of Russia.”