One of the main shareholders in Russia’s VimpelCom has said the operator is open to co-owning Orascom’s Djezzy network with the Algerian government. Such an arrangement would break the impasse between Orascom and the Algerian state over ownership of the operator, which risks delaying VimpelCom’s planned US$6.6 billion merger with Orascom parent Weather. According to a Dow Jones Newswires report, Alexei Reznikovich, CEO of Altimo, the telecoms investment arm of VimpelCom shareholder Alfa Group, said it would be “reasonable” for the Algerian government to co-own Djezzy, “while VimpelCom could be present in the Algerian market in some way as well.” He did not want to comment on the current fraught negotiations between Algeria and Orascom, but hinted that the influence of a third party could help the parties reach a deal. “The Russian government’s support would be useful, but the problem is complicated,” Reznikovich said.

Relations between Orascom and Algeria had broken down prior to the VimpelCom/Weather merger being announced, with the government objecting to Orascom’s efforts to sell its local unit to a foreign partner and wanting to nationalise it instead. Tensions were further ramped up when the government subsequently served Orascom with a US$230 million tax bill. These problems were deemed largely responsible for VimpelCom and Orascom/Weather missing an end-November deadline for signing their merger agreement. VimpelCom now says it expects to sign the agreements this month, and for the deal to close in the first half of next year. “It looks realistic that the deal may be closed in the middle of the first half of 2011,” Reznikovich said.