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Head of Egypt's Wind Telecom expects Vimpelcom board seats in 6 months: paper Naguib Sawiris' firm will ask Russian mobile operator for seats at first shareholder meeting following its takeover of Orascom Telecom and Wind last month
Wind Telecom's chairman sees the company getting three seats on Russian mobile operator Vimpelcom's board within six months if an existing shareholders agreement is scrapped, a newspaper said on Tuesday. Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris' firm will ask Vimpelcom for the seats in the first shareholders' meeting after any cancellation of the agreement, which gives key Vimpelcom stakeholders Altimo and Telenor three board seats each, Al Mal reported. "Sawiris explained ... that Wind has a 34 per cent voting right, by virtue of the deal, which gives it a right to get three seats on Vimpelcom's board, and such procedures could end within six months," the report said. A spokeswoman for Orascom Telecom, which is owned by Wind, confirmed the report. Sawiris became a 30.6 per cent shareholder in Vimpelcom last month after Russia's No. 3 mobile phone operator closed a more than US$6 billion deal for Wind Telecom, including Orascom Telecom and Italy's Wind. Vimpelcom's key Russian shareholder Altimo said in April it expected to scrap a 2009 shareholder agreement with Norway's Telenor to allow Sawiris roughly equal rights in Vimpelcom.