| Moscow and New York (April 24, 2007) — Open Joint Stock Company "Vimpel-Communications" ("VimpelCom" or the "Company") (NYSE: VIP), today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized VC ESOP N.V., or VC ESOP, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary, to repurchase up to 1,600,000 American Depositary Shares, or ADSs, which is equivalent to up to 400,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value 0.5 kopecks per share, through December 31, 2008. The number of shares underlying ADSs that may be repurchased equals approximately 0.8% of VimpelCom’s common stock currently outstanding. The Company and VC ESOP intend to utilize the repurchased shares for the issuance of stock based compensation awards.
VimpelCom intends to establish a systematic purchasing plan under Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to facilitate repurchases of up to 800,000 ADSs, which is equivalent to up to 200,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, under the repurchase program. Rule 10b5-1 permits a public company to repurchase its shares at times when it ordinarily would not be in the market because of self-imposed trading blackout periods. Under the Rule 10b5-1 plan, certain specified amounts of ADSs would be purchased on a daily basis provided that specified trading prices are achieved. The Rule 10b5-1 plan would commence on May 1, 2007 and expire upon the earliest of December 31, 2007, the purchase of all the ADSs covered by the plan, or certain other specified events. Purchases would be made in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions, all in accordance with U.S. and Russian securities law, including the volume, price, timing and other requirements of Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. VimpelCom also intends to establish a similar purchasing plan in 2008 to facilitate repurchases of up to an additional 800,000 ADSs, which is equivalent to up to 200,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, under the repurchase program.
The Company also announced that it has amended its Amended and Restated VimpelCom 2000 Stock Option Plan to increase the maximum number of shares available for issuance under the plan from 650,000 to 1,050,000 common shares (equivalent to 4,200,000 ADSs).
The VimpelCom Group includes cellular companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and recently acquired companies in Georgia and Armenia. The VimpelCom Group's cellular license portfolio covers a territory with a population of about 240 million. This includes 77 regions of Russia (136.5 million people, representing 94% of the Russia's population), and the entire territories of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia, and Armenia. VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"). VimpelCom's ADSs are listed on the NYSE under the symbol "VIP".
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