Russia’s Alfa Group and TeliaSonera of Sweden agreed on Thursday to pool their telecoms holdings in Russia and Turkey to create a joint venture that strengthens the groups’ position at the end of five years of corporate battles.

Alfa, controlled by oligarch Mikhail Fridman, and TeliaSonera are to merge their stakes in Megafon, Russia’s number three mobile phone operator, and Turkcell, the Turkish mobile group, and create a new company worth more than $30bn. It will eventually be listed in New York and run on a 50-50 basis.