New phase in Kyivstar conflict
Article:
At a press conference in the Ukrainian capital Tuesday, Telenor announced that it is ready to take a number of steps to resolve the conflict between Kyivstar shareholders, Telenor and Alfa Group.
Based on the recent New York arbitration award announced on 1 August 2007, Telenor on Tuesday 7 August asked Kyivstar to call an extraordinary shareholders meeting in Kyivstar at the earliest convenience.
A logic follow-upof recent ruling
Ukraine is part to the international UN treaty, UNCITRAL, which makes the arbitration ruling valid and enforceable in Ukraine. Telenor expect Ukrainian authorities to respect and abide by the international treaty and will seek to enforce the ruling in both Ukraine and elsewhere.
“It is high time for Kyivstar to call an extraordinary meeting of shareholders, which is a logic follow-up of not only the recent arbitration ruling, but also last year’s decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine as of 3 October,” said Telenor Executive Vice President Thor Halvorsen.
“We need urgent decisions on the following issues:
1) amendments to the Charter of Kyivstar
2) appointment of a new Board of Directors of the company
3) signing contract with the auditing company
4) approval of the Kyivstar managers’ contracts.
It is now required that Alfa participate in the EGM in order not to break the arbitration ruling and not harm Kyivstar’s operations.”
Confident that Ukraine will comply
Halvorsen also said that Telenor has taken steps to make sure the arbitration decision will be executed by applying to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. “We have taken the decision to the federal level in the US so that we can begin to enforce it against Alfa. We of course expected that Altimo would claim the decision cannot be enforced in Ukraine. However, the country is a party to the New York Convention of 1958. We are confident that Ukraine will comply with its international treaty obligations concerning enforcement of foreign arbitration awards.”
The arbitration award also enjoins Storm and its affiliates to hinder Telenor or the auditor Ernst &Young from exerting their rights and obligations. Storm has violated this part of the award by the August 2 actions in the Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine.
For further information please contact:
Dag Melgaard, Telenor Vice President for Corporate Communication
tel: +4790192000, e-mail: dag.melgaard@telenor.com