VimpelCom Ltd has claimed that its US$6.5 billion merger with Naguib Sawiris’s Orascom Telecom and Weather Investments remains on track despite a deadline passing for the merger agreement to be signed. “Given the size and complexity of the deal, we are satisfied with the progress made thus far,” said VimpelCom CEO Alexander Izosimov (pictured), reports Bloomberg. “We remain committed and continue to move forward.” A final agreement was due to be signed by the end of November, though various issues – notably a dispute over ownership at Orascom’s Djezzy unit in Algeria – appear to have led to delays. When the deal was announced in October, the companies had said they planned to close the deal in February. But Bloomberg reports that VimpelCom said last week that it is now aiming to close the deal in the first half of 2011.

The merger could potentially create the world’s fifth-largest operator, though not all Orascom assets are to be included. As well as the deadlock over Djezzy, VimpelCom’s CFO Henk van Dalen has confirmed that the new group will also spin-off Orascom’s businesses in North Korea and Egypt once the merger is completed. “Orascom would split off its share in [Egypt’s] Mobinil and in [North] Korea and there will be a spin-off at book value in principle, in line with Egyptian regulation,” Dalen told Bloomberg. Last month, Orascom also agreed to sell its 50 percent holding in Tunisiana for US$1.2 billion – a deal that was supported by VimpelCom as it would allow Orascom to cut debt ahead of the merger.