Telenor Says Omsk Court Cancels $2.8 Billion Ruling

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Telenor ASA, the Nordic region’s biggest phone company, said a Siberian court overturned a ruling that could have cost it $2.8 billion in damages.

The Omsk appeals court canceled an August decision by a court in Khanty-Mansiysk, also in Siberia, that found Telenor liable for damages after delaying Moscow-based OAO VimpelCom’s takeover of a Ukrainian mobile operator, Telenor lawyer Grigory Chernyshov said on a conference call today. The court will reconsider the case on Feb. 19.

“The court annulled the ruling by the Khanty-Mansiysk court on the grounds of gross violations of the Russian law,” Dimitry Afanasiev, a lawyer for Telenor, said on the call.

The case is one of several court battles between Alfa Group and Telenor ranging from New York to Siberia over control at ZAT Kyivstar GSM, Ukraine’s biggest mobile-phone company, and VimpelCom, the second-largest wireless provider in Russia. The claim in Khanty-Mansiysk was filed by Farimex Products Inc., which owns 0.002 percent of VimpelCom. Telenor has said Farimex is a front for Russian Oligarch Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa Group.

Telenor rose 0.5 krone, or 1.1 percent, to 45.25 kroner as of 3:13 p.m. in Oslo.

“We trust that when the Omsk court reconsiders the case in February it will dismiss Farimex’s claim,” Jan Thygesen, head of Telenor in Central and Eastern Europe, said in a statement. “In our view, by pursuing this action, those behind Farimex are undermining the efforts of the Russian state to advance the rule of law and improve the investment climate in Russia.”

Altimo, the telecommunications unit of Alfa, has denied having any links to Farimex.

Telenor controls 56.5 percent of Kyivstar and 29.9 percent of VimpelCom. In 2001, Telenor formed a partnership with Fridman, who controls the rest of Kyivstar and 44 percent of VimpelCom.

By Maria Ermakova and Juho Erkheikki