Photo from vodafone.de
The due diligence procedure at Vodafone Ukraine is reportedly over.
Azerbaijan's largest mobile operator Azercell may become a fellow subsidiary to Vodafone Ukraine.
Ukraine's liga.net portal reported this with reference to three independent sources.
At the moment, the sources disclosed the following information: due diligence at Vodafone Ukraine is over, a binding offer was made.
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"I've heard that there should be a new top manager in August, and that's right – they [Azercell] are buyers. But everything is calm at Vodafone Ukraine - as far as I know no one is packing their bags," another source close to the Turkish telecom holding Turkcell said.
Vodafone Ukraine's Press Secretary Victoria Pavlovska says the company does not comment on this issue.
The sources do not know the exact sum of the bid offered by Azerbaijan's operator for Vodafone Ukraine. One of them heard it was US$700 million. At the current forex rate, it is UAH 18.2 billion.
The Ukrainian company's operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) last year was UAH 6.9 billion, or US$266.8 million, then it can be bought at 2.6x OIBDA, the publication notes.
Vodafone Ukraine serves 19.7 million subscribers. Its net profit in 2018 amounted to UAH 1.8 billion, or US$69.6 million, revenue was UAH 12.8 billion, or US$495 million. The company is part of the MTS Group (through two intermediate legal entities, namely Luxembourg-based Allegretto Holding S.a.r.l. and the Netherlands Preludium B.V.), in which the majority shareholder is Russian oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov.
Azercell Telecom was founded in 1996. Its subscriber base exceeds 4.5 million, the operator leads the Azerbaijani mobile market with a share of 49%. Net profit of Azercell last year amounted to about 100 million manat (about US$58.7 million); revenue was 421 million manat (about US$247 million).