Despite legal dispute with Mobitel, it has been all good news for Russian firm in the past month as shares soared past $19

VIMPELCOM, which runs Cambodia’s newest mobile operator Beeline through local subsidiary Sotelco, saw its shares reach their highest level this year at US$19.05 by the end of trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq exchange in New York.

Having fallen as low as $4.91 on March 2, the Moscow-based telecommunications firm climbed 11.73 percent, or $2, in Tuesday trading following a recent spate of mostly positive news.

Bank of America increased its price estimate for the stock Monday from $12 to $22 and its rating from “neutral” to “buy”.

This comes after Vimpelcom on September 16 announced it had agreed to acquire Millicom SA’s 78-percent stake in Millicom Laos Co for about $66 million.

“Vimpelcom’s entry into Laos is the next logical step in our international expansion strategy. Laos provides a great complement to our existing operations in Vietnam and Cambodia and fits perfectly into our strategy of building a solid Southeast Asian cluster,” said CEO Boris Nemsic in a statement last week. “The growth potential in Laos is attractive, with a population of 6.5 million people and low mobile penetration estimated at around 23 percent.”

The Laos operation as a whole is valued at $102 million, it added.

At the end of last month, Vimpelcom announced a 3.3 percent quarter-on-quarter increase in net operating revenues to 69 billion rubles ($2.3 billion) for the three months leading up to the end of June, a period in which it launched in Cambodia and Vietnam while adding an additional million subscribers worldwide, it said.

However, in Cambodia Beeline faces a legal dispute involving a lawsuit filed by competitor Mobitel with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court last month, a deputy prosecutor confirmed Wednesday.

Tuesday’s performance on the Nasdaq means Vimpelcom’s stock has climbed 232.6 percent this year.