ALGIERS: New steps will be made within days towards concluding a long-running dispute with telecoms firm Vimpelcom over ownership of an Algerian mobile phone unit, Algeria's telecommunications minister said on Thursday.
"The process is going well. Things will accelerate. You will see new steps in the coming days," the minister, Moussa Benhamadi, told reporters when asked about the dispute over the Djezzy unit.
Vimpelcom hoped to acquire Djezzy as part of a $6 billion acquisition of Wind Telecom, parent of Djezzy's previous owner Orascom Telecom.
But Djezzy's status was left unclear because before the deal was completed the Algeria government, which has spent years locked in a row with Orascom Telecom over tax, said it planned to nationalise the unit.
The Algerian government has, for about a year, been in the process of valuing the unit, a prelude to taking it over.
Once the valuation has been completed, Algeria is likely to offer the new parent company compensation for the takeover of Djezzy, and possibly let Vimpelcom retain a minority shareholding.
Djezzy was the most lucrative part of Orascom Telecom's portfolio. The uncertainty over its ownership has cast a shadow over Vimpelcom's deal to acquire Orascom Telecom's assets.
In the first sign of progress in the dispute in months, Algerian Finance Minister Karim Djoudi said in November last year that he was in talks with Vimpelcom executives aimed at settling Djezzy's status.
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