Telenor Purchases VimpelCom ADRs

Telenor Purchases VimpelCom ADRs

(Fornebu, Norway - 14 May 2007) On 11 May 2007, Telenor East Invest entered into an amendment to its total return equity swap agreement with ING Bank, enabling Telenor to purchase and take physical ownership of 7,666,900 of the ADRs purchased by ING under their total return equity swap agreement, giving Telenor 29.9% of the voting stock in Russian mobile operator VimpelCom and 33.6% of VimpelCom's common stock. Telenor believes this transaction will increase the likelihood of three or more of its nominees to the Board of Directors of VimpelCom being elected to the Board at VimpelCom's annual general meeting of shareholders to be held June 29, 2007.

Under the Total Return Equity Swap Agreement between Telenor ASA and ING Bank, Telenor had economic exposure to up to 3.522% percent of the shares in Russian mobile operator VimpelCom. Telenor has also agreed to extend the swap agreement until June 2, 2008 to cover the remaining 447,400 ADRs acquired by ING pursuant to the original agreement. This amendment entitled Telenor to purchase from ING 7,666,900 VimpelCom ADRs (equivalent to 1,916,725 shares of the common stock) for a price per ADR of US$97.15261 (US$744,859,345.60 in aggregate). The extended swap agreement will not provide Telenor with any voting or investment rights over the remaining 447,400 VimpelCom ADRs.

Through its direct ownership of shares and ADRs, as well as its remaining economic exposure to ADRs under the extended swap agreement, Telenor will now have economic exposure to 33.8% of VimpelCom's common stock.

On 11 May 2007, Telenor filed an amendment to its filing on Schedule 13D with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in which Telenor described the terms of the amendment and the extension of the swap transaction. A copy of Telenor's amendment agreement with ING Bank N.V. is attached as an exhibit to that filing.