Vimpelcom, a Russian telecoms leader, has ended its long discussions with Algeria. This was after the telecoms giant agreed to put its 51 percent stake in Orascom Telecom Algeria, reported Ventures Africa. Orascom operates as the local division of Vimpelcom.
Orascom was acquired by the Russian telecoms operator in 2010 from industry mogul Naguib Sawiris. The deal was valued $6 billion and the acquisition was a move for Vimpelcom to diverse its assets outside the European region.
However, after the deal was closed, Vimpelcom has been embattled by a lot of issues including restrictive rules that have been crippling the growth of business in the industry. At that time, the government in Algeria has been keen to have the telecom company nationalized, said a report from Ventures Africa.
A report from Ahram Online disclosed that the restrictive policies on imports and back tax claims along with foreign currency issues were charged to Orascom at that time. The move was to impose a stricter environment for the business which returned negative impact on the share value of the telecom firm.
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