Global telecom holding VEON, which owns Ukrainian operator Kyivstar, plans to list the company on the American NASDAQ exchange. At the same time, the company wants to make some of its shares available to Ukrainians, but this is hindered by currency restrictions related to martial law.
Global telecom holding VEON, which owns Ukrainian operator Kyivstar, plans to list the company on the American NASDAQ exchange. At the same time, the company wants to make some of its shares available to Ukrainians, but this is hindered by currency restrictions related to martial law.
This was announced by VEON founder Ogi K. Fabela II in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. According to him, he dreams of a "people's IPO" so that Ukrainian investors could also become co-owners of Kyivstar. However, for now, such an initiative is running into regulatory barriers.
According to Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov, before the full-scale war, the company studied the possibility of placing shares simultaneously in the US and Ukraine. One of the options provided for a tool of the National Securities Commission, which would allow NASDAQ shares to be placed in Ukraine. However, in conditions of martial law, such securities, denominated in foreign currency, fall under the ban on transfers abroad.
The finalist for the listing will be Kyivstar Group Ltd, which will receive the ticker KYIV. After the merger with the SPAC company Cohen Circle, which is already listed on NASDAQ, VEON will retain a controlling stake of at least 80%. The listing is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
VEON serves nearly 160 million customers in six countries. As of March this year, Kyivstar had 22.7 million mobile subscribers and over a million home Internet users. The company has already announced $1 billion in investments in telecom technologies in Ukraine by 2027.
VEON representatives emphasize: opening access to Kyivstar shares for Ukrainians will be not only symbolic, but also a useful signal to the market that Ukraine is open to both foreign and domestic investments.
We previously wrote about how Kyivstar's parent holding company VEON disclosed the financial and operational performance of the Uklon taxi service, the purchase of which the company recently announced.
