US lets Ukraine’s largest mobile operator owner sell business in Russia
The Netherlands-based VEON holding company, which owns Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile service operation, has received permission to sell its Russian assets from the US Treasury Department, it said in the quarterly report.
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"With regard to the sale of PJSC VimpelCom ("VimpelCom"), the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") issued a license on 15 April 2023 authorizing U.S. persons to engage in all transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to the divestment of VimpelCom," the report reads.
VEON owns 100 percent of Russian telecoms operator VimpelCom, which provides services in Russia under the Beeline brand.
In November 2022, it first emerged that VEON planned to give its Russian business to local management.
The holding will receive RUB 130 billion (USD 1.64 billion) from the sale, the principal amount to be paid as the Russian business takes over part of the group's debt.
VimpelCom is the second largest operator within VEON in terms of subscribers, with 47 million customers, second only to Pakistan's Jazz (75.5 million). VEON has less than 25 million customers in Ukraine.
VEON's main shareholder is LetterOne, an investment company founded by Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev, all under Western sanctions in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.