VEON VEON Ltd

By Matthias Verbergt and Olga Razumovskaya 

Telenor ASA said Monday that it had started selling part of its 33% stake in VimpelCom Ltd., one of Russia's largest telecom carriers, which was hit earlier this year with a hefty fine by U.S. and Dutch authorities as part of a corruption case.

Telenor, which is majority-owned by the Norwegian state, said it had commenced a public offering of nearly one-fourth of its VimpelCom shares, which are Nasdaq listed, adding price hadn't yet been determined.

The offer is part of Telenor's plan to divest its entire stake in VimpelCom, for which it has been seeking potential buyers since October 2015.

VimpelCom, which is registered in the Netherlands, in February admitted to having paid more than $114 million in bribes to an Uzbekistan official, and agreed to pay more than $795 million in civil and criminal penalties to U.S. and Dutch authorities.

In April, two Telenor executives agreed to resign over the company's handling of its ownership stake in VimpelCom after a review by Deloitte. Telenor said the review hadn't uncovered any corruption at the company but had pointed to weaknesses in organizational structure, communication and leadership relating to its role as VimpelCom owner.

In July, Telenor reported that its second-quarter net profit fell by two-thirds compared with the year-earlier period, hit by a 2.5 billion Norwegian kroner ($303 million) impairment loss related to its stake in VimpelCom, which has more than 200 million subscribers and offers mobile services in 14 countries.

At the time, the company said, "VimpelCom will continue to be classified as an associated company until it is highly probable that a sale within 12 months will occur."

The news also comes just less than a week after former chief executive of VimpelCom's Russia unit, Mikhail Slobodin, was put on a federal wanted list after being declared a person of interest in a bribery investigation.

Mr. Slobodin resigned late last Monday following the declaration by Russia's Investigative Committee, the country's chief investigative body. Being on a federal wanted list means that Mr. Slobodin can be arrested if he is found on Russian territory. Mr. Slobodin couldn't be reached for comment.

Write to Matthias Verbergt at Matthias.Verbergt@wsj.com and Olga Razumovskaya at olga.razumovskaya@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 13, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)

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