After Repping VimpelCom in $25B Merger, Akin Gump Scores Post-Merger Arbitration Win (Telenor East v. VimpelCom)

Akin Gump represented VimpelCom Ltd., one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, in a series of proceedings relating to a landmark transaction of a $25 billion acquisition with Wind Telecom S.p.A.  Opposing this transaction, one of VimpelCom’s largest shareholders had sought to enjoin a special general meeting of shareholders to approve the transaction unless VimpelCom agreed to issue it pre-emptive shares.

Advised by a team of New York and London Akin Gump litigators and coordinating with English barristers and a co-defendant, VimpelCom successfully opposed the injunction, and the London Commercial Court issued a ruling that allowed the deal to close, avoiding derailment of the entire multibillion-dollar transaction.  The closing took VimpelCom from the 42nd-largest mobile phone company in the world to the sixth-largest and expanded VimpelCom’s operations from Russia, the CIS, Vietnam and Cambodia to include Italy and many emerging markets in North America and South Asia.

Akin Gump then defended VimpelCom in a post-merger arbitration brought by the same shareholder.  After a hearing before the arbitral tribunal, the shareholder withdrew all claims with prejudice.  The tribunal subsequently entered a multimillion-dollar fee award in VimpelCom’s favor.