Vodafone Ukraine announces new tender to buy back $1.185 mln of notes
MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax) - Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), the second largest Ukrainian mobile operator, which has bought back its own Eurobonds for nearly $20.4 million in a series of tender offers in connection with dividend payments since the end of May 2025, has called another such tender offer to repurchase notes at 98% of face value or $1.185 million in total.
Prior to that, Vodafone Ukraine paid its latest monthly on February 3, totaling UAH 50.906 million, equivalent to the monthly ceiling set by the National Bank of Ukraine for such payments of 1 million euros, Ukrainian media reported, citing the company's filing with the Irish Stock Exchange.
Tenders are accepted until February 17, with settlements before February 24.
A total of $300 million of notes maturing in February 2027 and with a nominal rate of 9.625% per annum were issued. The tender offer is related to the fact that on April 24, 2025 VFU announced the payment of dividends to its shareholder for 2024 in the amount of UAH 660.245 million, or $15.9 million at the exchange rate specified in the notification.
In line with the restrictions imposed by the NBU, they will be paid in separate monthly dividend tranches. Each such monthly dividend is due to reach the hryvnia equivalent of 1 million euros.
The company said that, consistent with the issue terms, it was ready to invite all noteholders to apply for selling them to a sum equivalent to the dividends paid outside Ukraine.
In the first two tenders, VFU bought back notes for the equivalent to 1 million euros. The debut buyback was announced at 99% of the par value, and the second at 90%. VFU did not publish the results of the second buyback on the exchange. The scaling factor in the first buyback was 0.0040355668.
In the third tender, where the repurchase price was reduced to 85% and the offer was limited to $4.67 million, VFU received offers for $53.395 million and granted them for $5.208 million. The scaling factor was 0.1315451889487317.
The fourth tender was announced on August 13 and subsequently extended seven times. During the process, the buyback price was increased from 85% to 98% of par, and the purchase amount was raised to $10.84 million. VFU received offers to buy back $127.14 million of notes. The remaining tendered notes were then accepted for purchase in accordance with a scaling factor of 0.1150681.
In the fifth and sixth tenders called in December 2025 and January 26, the repurchase price was again 98% of par. In the fifth tender, VFU received offers to buy back $1.165 million of notes with a scaling factor of 0.01901. Offers received by VFU in the sixth tender totaled $1.475 million with a scaling factor of 0.04234.
As a result, $10,773,230 aggregate principal amount of notes were purchased on the November 20 tender offer settlement date. All purchased notes were cancelled, following which $281,759,030 aggregate principal amount of notes remain outstanding.
Following the six tenders, the aggregate principal amount of notes still in circulation stands at $279.182 million.
As reported, the company's net profit increased 10.7% year-on-year to UAH 3.447 billion in January-September 2025, and revenue grew 13.3% to UAH 19.03 billion.
The company is receiving loans from related parties to service and repurchase Eurobonds. In February 2025, parent company Telco Investments B.V. provided $49.59 million for partial Eurobond repayment. In June, Vodafone Ukraine signed a dollar-denominated credit-line agreement with Telco Investments for the equivalent of UAH 660 million at 10% interest, maturing in 2028.
In July 2025, the company signed a $10 million loan agreement with Dutch firm Cemin B.V. at 10% interest, with repayment due no later than the end of 2027 but not before Eurobond redemption. The funds are disbursed in tranches to the company's foreign bank account and must be used for bond buybacks conducted due to the resumed dividend payments.
