The latest rift between VimpelCom’s two main owners – Norway’s Telenor and Russia’s Alfa Group – looks close to being resolved, after both shareholders raised their stakes in the operator group.

Alfa has raised its voting stake to 40.5 percent from 25 percent after buying US$3.6 billion in shares from VimpelCom’s third-largest shareholder, Weather Investments. Telenor is to raise its stake to 43 percent from 39.5 percent, also using Weather shares.

With Alfa bringing its stake closer in line with Telenor’s, the Russian firm has agreed to drop a legal challenge against an earlier stake increase by the Norwegian operator, according to a Reuters report. 

In February, Telenor increased its voting share in VimpelCom to 36.36 percent from 25 percent, prompting legal action from both Alfa and Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), which claimed the transaction violated Russian investment law. 

Telenor is now hoping that the FAS lawsuit will also be withdrawn, allowing VimpelCom to resume dividend payments.

VimpelCom CEO Jo Lunder had said earlier in the week that the dispute between Alfa and Telenor had meant delays to a planned European IPO (it is already listed in New York).

"We are still in discussions with our strategic shareholders," Lunder told Reuters. "It [a European listing] has been a little bit delayed because of the situation between the shareholders related to the preferred shares and the situation in Russia."

"We hope to be able to resolve that and then move on our discussions with them on listing and index inclusion and I would hope that by year-end we have more information to provide," he added.