ArmInfo. <UCOM> CJSC announced its intention to protect its violated rights in the transaction regarding the merger of "VEON Armenia" CJSC with "Tim" LLC. This is stated in the message of the company, received by ArmInfo.
The company informed that on June 26 of this year, the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition of the Republic of Armenia
asked UCOM CJSC to clarify the position of Ucom regarding the merger of VEON Armenia CJSC with Tim LLC, which plans to acquire 100% of the shares of VEON Armenia CJSC.
It should be noted that on June 8 of this year, Tim LLC submitted an application to the State Committee for Protection of the Republic of Armenia with a request to allow the implementation of this transaction. On July 1 of this year, UAB <UCOM> presented its position on this transaction, in particular stating that this merger is subject to prohibition for several reasons.
In particular, according to the position of Ucom, the actions taken by LLC Tim and its management should be qualified as unfair competition (including unfair competition using undisclosed strictly confidential information owned by Ucom). Consequently, the conclusion of the transaction in question directly contradicts Articles 11 and 16 of the Law of the Republic of Armenia <On Protection of Economic Competition>, and the merger is subject to prohibition by the State Committee for the Protection of the Environment of Armenia.
"The position establishes and substantiates that the former Ucom CEO Hayk Yesayan, as well as the former deputy director and strategic development director of the company Alexander Yesayan (who is still a member of the board of directors of <UCOM> CJSC), in our assessment violated fiduciary obligations in relation to Ucom, as well as in negotiating with VEON Armenia CJSC and signing the memorandum submitted to the SCPEC, used strictly confidential information that is considered to be the property of Ucom (including details of the transaction with VEON Armenia CJSC, which is a number of laws and case law countries was called the doctrine of the assignment of corporate opportunities.) Thus, we find that it was precisely as a result of the disclosure and use by the Esayanov of Ucom's company of strictly confidential information that Tim managed to negotiate and sign a memorandum for the purpose of acquiring the shares of CJSC <VEON Armenia>, in while negotiations on such deals take months, if not longer. These actions, as justified in the position of <UCOM>, are unfair competition and are prohibited. <UCOM> CJSC presented to the State Committee for Security and Protection of the Republic of Armenia factual circumstances confirming the above statements. In addition, a comparative legal analysis of the experience of countries with similar legal norms was presented as an additional argument to justify the reasons given in the position of UAB <UCOM>. The information provided emphasizes that such manifestations are not unique and are subject to conviction both in Armenia and abroad.
<UCOM> CJSC informs that it intends to defend its violated rights both in the competent authorities of Armenia and in the relevant foreign instances, and now, together with the team providing legal services, as well as with foreign lawyers, is considering the possible initiation of legal actions also abroad ", - emphasized in the company.