Telenor ends legal dispute with Russian partner and plans asset merger

The Norwegian telecom company Telenor and its Russian partner, the telecommunications arm of the Russian financial and industrial group Alfa, settled their longtime dispute, both sides agreeing to set aside their lawsuits and instead merge their assets into a joint venture. 
The dispute between Telenor and Altimo, which is resolved now, was centered on corporate control of the Russian mobile company VimpelCom. It is also partially controlled by minority shareholder Farimex Products, registered in the British Virgin Islands, which actually brought a lawsuit against Telenor, as a result of which the Omsk court seized the Telenor stake in VimpelCom. 
A condition for closing the current agreement is the settlement or withdrawal of all current legal proceedings between the companies. It means that, before the present deal will close, the Farimex case should be closed too. The BVI company is not party to the current agreement. It seems even that it decided to withdraw from a lawsuit even before the agreement between Telenor and Altimo was publicly announced. By words of Telenor lawyers, a lawyer for Farimex agreed in a filing in the U.S. District Court to suspend its lawsuit.
Now Telenor and Altimo agreed to merge their assets in Vimpelcom, the second largest telecoms operator in Russia, and Kyivstar, the largest mobile phone operator in Ukraine of which Telenor had a controlling stake, and to create VimpelCom Ltd., which will be incorporated in Bermuda and based in the Netherlands. After the deal closes, VimpelCom Ltd. will be listed on NY stock exchange.
This seems not to be the optimal solution for Telenor, which loses control of the Kyivstar board, but  the Norwegian company was forced into it. It resembles situation with BP, the British oil company, which, after a struggle with Russian partners including the Alfa group, was compelled to surrender control over its joint venture in Russia, TNK-BP.