Akin Gump Advises OJSC VimpelCom on Acquisition of NTC

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is advising emerging market telecoms company OJSC VimpelCom Ltd, a subsidiary of VimpelCom Ltd, on its acquisition of 90% of the ordinary share capital of OJSC New Telephone Company (“NTC”) from KT Corporation and Summit Telecom Global Management B.V. (“Summit”), a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation. As part of the transaction, VimpelCom will also launch a mandatory tender offer under Russian law to acquire the remaining 10% of the outstanding NTC shares. Completion of the tender offer is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2011. The consideration of the transaction for 100% of NTC’s shares is US$420 million.

NTC is a leading mobile operator in the Primorskiy region of Russia and provides voice and data services through a wide range of wireless, fixed and broadband solutions as well as IPTV and IP-telephony.