On 10 April, the leading Armenian telecom company and number one internet provider in the country “Ucom” recorded around 400 resignations, including the founders of the company, the brothers Hayk and Alexander Yesayan, reported arka.am.
The reason is that disputes arose between the leaders and shareholders of Ucom. According to various sources, the discord arose over the company owners’ intention to appoint Andrei Pyatakhin, who currently runs Beeline, another telecommunication company, as director to Ucom. The Yesayan brothers also opposed Beeline’s takeover because it would dilute their 6% stake in Ucom.
On 27 December 2019, VEON Armenia, which owns the Beeline brand, applied to the Public Services Regulatory Commission to obtain permission to sell its shares to Ucom. Later, both companies officially confirmed ongoing negotiations on a possible deal. VEON and Ucom appeared to have agreed the terms of the deal in December and have since been awaiting its approval by Armenia’s government as well as utility and anti-trust regulators.
However, the Armenian media leaked information stating that Armenian CEO of Beeline, Andrei Pyatakhin leaked commercial information to complete the deal in exchange for a promise that he would retain the position of CEO in the new-merged company.
The Armenian Ministry of Industry of High Technologies announced that the acquisition has not been approved yet. The ministry has appealed to Armenian operators and their staff to avoid abusing the situation, given the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Ucom and Beeline Armenia are two of the three major Armenian mobile operators, the other being VivaCell-MTS, a subsidiary of Russian mobile operator MTS. Ucom is controlled by the extended family of Gagik Khachatryan, the former Armenian finance minister who was arrested last August on corruption charges he denied. Khachatryan’s two sons and a nephew own a combined 77% of the company’s stock. The assets of Ucom’s major shareholders were frozen by the Armenian authorities as part of the continuing criminal investigation into Khachatryan’s case.
