Bees are returning

Vimpelcom turns expansion and is preparing to change the leadership, the head of Vimpelcom, Alexander Izosimov, can leave his post until the expiration of the contract (January 1, 2010). He reported this yesterday RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the Davos forum. A change of leadership will occur if Izosimov is found a worthy successor.

In Vimpelkom, the general director is not commented by the general director. Nevertheless, a source in the company's management confirmed Gazeta that the search for a suitable candidate is already being conducted.

The expert community suggests that the chair of the general director may be occupied by Jean-Pierre Vandromm, who is currently an executive vice-president of Vimpelcom for the development of business in Russia. “In the short list, which Vimpelcom has the first position today,” says Mobile Research Group, Eldar Murtazin.

The change of management may not be the only change in the fate of the company in the coming year.

Among other things, Alexander Isosimov said yesterday that as a result of economic uncertainty related to the global economic crisis, Vimpelcom suspenses purchases and expansion to foreign markets, with the exception of Cambodia and Vietnam.

Commenting on this statement, the representative of the operator Ekaterina Osadchaya explained that the decision is due to the fact that in 2009 and 2010 the main debt burden on the company was accounting. “We cannot afford purchase, because we need to pay debt obligations, and this is much more important than making an expansion, and is a priority for us,” she said.

“New territories are primarily capacious foreign markets. In particular, Asian countries require investment not millions, but billions of dollars, ”adds the analyst of the Finams, Vladislav Kochetkov. According to him, in the current conditions, Vimpelcom does not have enough own funds, but it is impossible to take on attractive conditions. “Therefore, the rejection of expansion is just a statement that the company has no opportunity to develop outside Russia and, above all in the far abroad,” Kochetkov said.

As for projects in Cambodia and Vietnam, they, according to the expert, will continue because now their freezing will lead to even greater losses than possible investments. “To enter these markets, quite a few were done, and now the refusal of their development will mean the actual write -off of investments,” says the analyst.

MTS spokesman Irina Osadchaya told Gazeta yesterday that her company had no short-term plans to enter the far abroad. The operator will consider all the possibilities of development in the Russian market. “The crisis creates new opportunities, but at the same time requires a more cautious approach to acquisitions, taking into account the current situation in the market,” she says.

01/28/2009 / Anton Trifonov, the material was published in the newspaper No. 14 of 01.29.2009.