VimpelCom Completes Wind Merger and Plans Spinoffs of Units

VimpelCom Ltd., Russia’s third-largest wireless carrier by subscribers, completed its merger with Wind Telecom SpA to create the world’s sixth-largest phone company by subscriber numbers.

Operations in Egypt and North Korea will be spun off to shareholders in Wind’s Orascom Telecom Holding SAE unit, North Africa’s biggest mobile network operator, while the company will work to keep Orascom Telecom’s Djezzy unit in Algeria, Amsterdam-based VimpelCom said today in a statement. Wind Chief Executive Officer Khaled Bichara will become president and coordinate actions aimed at cost savings of $2.5 billion.