MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — VimpelCom Ltd. expects Russia's Alfa Group and Telenor ASA to complete a merger of Russian and Ukrainian mobile-phone assets by the end of April, chief executive officer Alexander Izosimov said.

VimpelCom Ltd., the company being formed by Telenor and Alfa's Altimo consolidating holdings in Russian and Ukrainian mobile operators, will be incorporated in Bermuda and based in the Netherlands.

The company said it began a share exchange offer yesterday. Shareholders and holders of American depositary shares in OAO VimpelCom have until April 15 in the US and April 20 in Russia to accept the offer, VimpelCom said in a statement.

Russia on February 3 approved plans by Telenor and Altimo to combine their stakes in Moscow-based VimpelCom, Russia's second-largest mobile-phone company, and Ukraine's ZAT Kyivstar after they agreed to invest 137 billion rubles ($4.5 billion) in the new company, Federal Anti-Monopoly Service chief Igor Artemyev said that day. Ukraine's Anti-Monopoly Commission has yet to approve the plan, Izosimov said today in a telephone interview from Amsterdam. VimpelCom Ltd. will become the largest mobile-phone operator in eastern Europe by revenue, according to the CEO. Its shares will start trading in New York within two weeks after the merger is complete, Izosimov said.