Billionaire Fridman Says Telenor Exit Makes VimpelCom Fitter
- Having competitor as investor made board meetings ‘abnormal’
- ‘Like PepsiCo managers sitting on the Coca-Cola board’
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Mikhail Fridman, the billionaire co-owner of VimpelCom Ltd, said he’s happy Telenor ASA has begun selling its stake in the wireless carrier, because competition between the two companies in some markets created an “abnormal” situation on the board.
Telenor, which began selling its 33 percent stake of VimpelCom this month, is a direct competitor in Pakistan and Bangladesh -- markets that have a combined population of about 380 million, Fridman said in an interview in Kiev. VimpelCom, based in Amsterdam, operates in Russia and dozens of emerging markets, including those two.