MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court upheld Thursday a decision by Russian cell phone company VimpelCom [RTS: VIMPG] to acquire mobile operator Ukrainian Radio Systems (URS).
The ruling is the latest step in a long-running dispute between the two main shareholders in Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom - Norway's Telenor and Russia's Alfa Group - over Vimpelcom's move into the Ukrainian market.
The URS buyout had the backing of Alfa Group, but Telenor called the move illegal. The companies also clashed in February over Vimpelcom's purchase of another Ukrainian operator, Kyivstar.
The Moscow Arbitration Court Thursday upheld an appellate court's ruling, dismissing a Telenor lawsuit seeking to invalidate the decision to buy URS, a leading cell phone operator in Ukraine, which had been backed by VimpelCom's shareholders.
VimpelCom is majority owned by Telenor and Altimo, the telecoms arm of financial major Alfa Group, and is best known for the Beeline trademark.
Telenor holds 26.6% of shares in VimpelCom, Russia's second largest operator, best known for the Beeline trademark. Alfa Group's telecoms arm Altimo (previously Alfa Telecom) holds a 32.9% stake.
Telenor and Alfa Group filed applications with the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service in the summer of 2005 seeking to increase their stakes in VimpelCom.
Alfa Group had backed a VimpelCom deal to acquire Ukraine's URS for $231.3 million. Telenor opposed the deal, saying it was overpriced.
The deal went through in the fall of 2005, and in January 2006 Telenor filed three lawsuits with the Moscow Arbitration Court against VimpelCom, to challenge the deal.
In its first lawsuit, Telenor demanded the annulment of a decision by a VimpelCom shareholders' meeting on September 14, 2005, to approve the URS acquisition. The court rejected this lawsuit on May 15, and Telenor said on June 21 it would appeal its ruling.
The second lawsuit was filed against VimpelCom, and five other companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus, and an individual who Telenor claimed had sold the Ukrainian company. The Norwegian giant said the deal breached Russian legislation.
The third suit sought the annulment of a decision made by VimpelCom Director General Alexander Izosimov to close the deal without permission from the board of directors.
The second and the third suits were also rejected by the Moscow Arbitration Court.
