OREANDA-NEWS. December 25, 2012. “VimpelCom Ltd.” (“VimpelCom”, “Company” or “Group”) (NYSE:VIP), a leading global provider of telecommunications services, today announced that Altimo Cooperatief U.A. (“Altimo”) has delivered a notice to the Company that Altimo intends to convert 128,532,000 Convertible Preferred Shares of the Company owned by Altimo into Common Shares of the Company at a ratio of one Convertible Preferred Share for one Common Share.

The conversion date has been notified as April 16, 2013 and the conversion premium to be paid by Altimo to the Company upon conversion is USD 10.835, the closing mid-market price on December 21, 2012, per Convertible Preferred Share. Based on this conversion premium, once Altimo converts its preferred shares into common shares the Company will receive approximately USD 1.4 billion for the conversion.  Altimo's voting percentage, which is currently 47.9%, will not increase as a result of the conversion while its economic interest in the Company will increase from 52.7% to 56.2%, based on current outstanding share and ownership percentages.