Fridman goes for North Africa exposure with top RWE bid

A subsidiary of Alfa Group, the global investment fund controlled by Russian-Ukrainian businessman Mikhail Fridman, submitted the highest bid for RWE Dea’s upstream assets on 20 January. If successful, Fridman’s offer would make him one of the most important foreign investors in Algeria, as well as establishing him in the Libyan, Egyptian and Mauritanian upstream in addition to Latin America and Europe. His Vimpelcom telecommunications company is already the largest shareholder in Orascom Telecom Algérie, which operates the Djezzy mobile telephone franchise. For the past two years, he has been in difficult negotiations with the Algerian government, which wants to reduce Vimpelcom to a minority shareholder.