Vimpelcom (VIP.N) said on Friday it has completed its transformational acquisition of telecoms assets owned by Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris, creating the world's sixth-largest mobile provider. Vimpelcom plans to consolidate the financial results of Wind Telecom, including 51 percent of emerging markets specialist Orascom Telecom (ORTE.CA) and 100 percent of Wind of Italy, effective Friday, it said in a statement. "Vimpelcom has already commenced integration initiatives and we are focused on realising synergies, particularly in the area of procurement, and capitalising on the company's strengthened leadership, scale and market expertise," Chief Executive Officer Alexander Izosimov said in a statement. The more than $6 billion cash-and-shares deal, which will see Vimpelcom take on $20 billion of debt, was approved by the majority of shareholders on March 17 despite opposition from one of the main stake holders, Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL).
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