VimpelCom shareholders overwhelmingly approve merger of VimpelCom and KB Impuls
26 May 2004

Commenting on today's announcement, Alexander Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom, said, "Today, we had a tremendous show of support by our independent public shareholders for the actions our company is taking. Holders of approximately 77% of our shares were represented at our annual meeting, and more than 99% of the voted shares were in favor of the merger of our wholly-owned subsidiary, KB Impuls, into VimpelCom. Apart from streamlining our corporate structure, we hope this will resolve the issues raised by the regulator regarding our Moscow operations."

The transactions approved at today's shareholder meeting will be subject to various Russian regulatory approvals, including the Agency for Anti-Monopoly Policy of the Russian Federation, and satisfaction of certain other conditions precedent, including the transfer of all of KB Impuls's licenses, frequencies and permissions to VimpelCom.

VimpelCom will submit a copy of the results of the AGM under separate cover of Form 6-K to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Stock Exchange. An electronic copy of the results of the AGM will be available for review on VimpelCom's web site in the "SEC Filings" section.

VimpelCom is a leading provider of telecommunications services in Russia, operating under the "Bee Line GSM" brand. The VimpelCom Group's license portfolio covers approximately 92% of Russia's population (134 million people), including the City of Moscow, the Moscow Region and the City of St. Petersburg. VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"). VimpelCom's ADSs are listed on the NYSE under the symbol "VIP".

VimpelCom

Altimo, a leading private equity group, operating on some of the world's most desirable and potentially lucrative mobile telecommunications markets, was created in 2005 from Alfa Telecom, which itself was established in 2004 to hold the telecoms investments of the Alfa Group Consortium (Golden Telecom, Inc., Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Kyivstar GSM, MegaFon, VimpelCom, Sky Mobile). Those assets are in Russia, the CIS and other promising emerging markets.

VimpelCom consists of telecommunications operators providing voice and data services through a range of wireless, fixed and broadband technologies. The Group includes companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia, in territories with a total population of about 340 million. The Group companies provide services under the "Beeline" brand.  VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (under the symbol "VIP").  In Q1 2008, VimpelCom acquired 100% of the oustanding share capital of Golden Telecom, a leading facilities-based provider of integrated telecommunications and Internet services in Russia and the CIS.

SEARCH