Askume, Sept 10 – A consortium of investors led by French billionaire Xavier Niel has completed the acquisition of Ukrainian mobile operator Lifecell and service provider DataGroup-Veolia, investment firms involved in the deal said on Monday .
Why is this important?
Lifecell is Ukraine’s third-largest mobile service provider after VEON (VON.AS) Kyivstar and Vodafone (VOD.L) . The operator will merge with fixed telecom and pay TV company Datagroup-Veolia.
Lifecell is wholly owned by Turkcell (TCELL.IS). April, Kiev courtThe way for the takeover was cleared by lifting a block on LifeCell shares held by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, who owns a roughly 20% stake through LetterOne.
Key Quotes
“The completion of this landmark transaction will signal to others that Ukraine offers attractive opportunities and now is the time to invest,” Neal said in a statement.
By number
Turkcell said on Monday that the deal is worth at least $524.3 million. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation will provide a loan of $435 million, the companies said.
The new platform is expected to connect around 10 million mobile users and over 4 million fixed access networks.
situation
NJJ Holding and major investor Horizon Capital are among Neil’s investment vehicles. It is the sole owner of Atlas Investments, which is also the largest shareholder in telecoms group Millicom (MICC.F) .
Iliad is the backbone of Nile’s broader telecoms business and its Chief Executive Thomas Renaud told Askume in August that the company would not become the parent company of the new Ukrainian supplier.
what happens next
Kyivstar’s chief executive told Askume on Thursday the merger could improve competition among operators uniting the international company in Ukraine’s telecoms tripartite sector at a time of war with Russia.This is seriously affecting the flexibility of mobile operators .
