Asters Acted as Ukrainian Law Counsel to VimpelCom on USD 2 Billion Eurobond Issue

Asters advised VimpelCom Holdings B.V., a leading international telecommunication company and parent of Ukrainian mobile telecom operator Kyivstar, on USD 2 billion Eurobond financing, including a RUB 12 billion tranche and two US Dollar-denominated tranches totalling USD 1.6 billion. The notes are guaranteed by VimpelCom Holdings' subsidiary OJSC "Vimpel-Communications" and are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.

The coupon on the USD notes was the lowest coupon in VimpelCom's history while the RUB denominated Eurobonds represent the first such issuance by a non-financial services or non-state-owned company. The proceeds of this issuance will be used for repayment of maturing debt and general corporate purposes.

Barclays Bank PLC, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, ING Bank N.V. and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc acted as lead managers for the financing.

Asters' transaction team included Yevgen Kravtsov, Yevgen Porada, Alexey Pustovit and Oksana Legka under supervision of senior partner Armen Khachaturyan and managing partner Oleksiy Didkovskiy. Akin Gump LLP acted as English law counsel to the issuer.