Turkcell estimates value of assets being sold in Ukraine at $525 mln
MOSCOW. Feb 2 (Interfax) - The enterprise value of Turkcell's subsidiaries in Ukraine, namely Lifecell LLC, under the lifecell brand and Ukraine's third largest mobile operator; Global Bilgi LLC, a contact center outsourcing company; and Ukrtower LLC, a tower rental service provider, will be approximately $525 million, Ukrainian media reported, citing Turkcell's statement.
"The final sale price will be determined as part of the adjustments that will be effected to account for cash and debt after the transaction has been closed," Turkcell said, commenting on media reports.
Turkcell also said that it has postponed disclosing the corresponding information owing to the uncertainty of the sale price on the date of the transaction decision.
"The process [to sell the Ukrainian assets] is expected to be completed upon receiving the regulatory approvals," Turkcell said, without specifying a specific deadline.
Bloomberg earlier this week reported that French billionaire Xavier Niel's NJJ Capital investment company would pay at least $500 million for Turkcell's Ukrainian operations.
Niel said that NJJ Capital was not paying much for the asset compared to its profit, according to Bloomberg.
On December 29, 2023, Turkcell signed an agreement on transferring 100% of the shares, as well as all the rights and debts of Lifecell LLC, Global Bilgi LLC, and Ukrtower LLC, to Niel's NJJ Capital.
Turkcell said that the nominal price of the shares of Lifecell is nearly UAH 12.712 billion, Global Bilgi is UAH 47.226 million, and Ukrtower is about UAH 1.964 billion.
On December 29, 2023, the Anti-monopoly Committee of Ukraine (ACU) received applications for issuing permits for the transactions. However, the documents did not comply with ACU's established requirements, thus ACU returned the documents.
On January 23, 2024, ACU again received documents for the transactions, and ACU is currently analyzing the documents.
The official exchange rate as on February 2, 2024, is UAH 37.6/$1.