Telecom entrepreneur Xavier Niel has completed the purchase of Ukraine’s only towerco UkrTOWER, the country’s third MNO lifecell and consultancy and outsourcing company Global Bilgi for US$524.3 mn, Turkcell has announced. All companies’ shares, rights and liabilities have been transferred to DVL Telecom with Turkcell no longer having any shares in its three former subsidiaries.
The deal has not been easy to close and obtain all regulatory approvals. It has been surrounded by uncertainty due to the fact that Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman owns a 20% stake in Turkcell. The Xavier Niel-owned company had signed an agreement on 29 December 2023 to buy out the Ukrainian businesses. Although Turkcell has stated that Fridman has no control over it or its businesses in Ukraine, a Ukrainian court in March 2024 ordered the seizure of a 20% stake in lifecell along with 100% stakes in UkrTOWER. Turkcell filed an appeal to get the court decision withdrawn and in April 2024 a Kyiv court lifted the seizure.
In 2016, Turkcell carved out and transferred 811 lifecell towers to UkrTOWER, the local subsidiary of their captive towerco Global Tower. UkrTOWER’s current site count is approximately 1,200 sites including a number of in-building solutions. No plans have been announced about the future of the towerco yet.
NJJ Holding, together with private equity firm Horizon Capital, has also bought Ukrainian national fixed-line and digital services provider Datagroup-Volia. Horizon Capital also announced they will merge lifecell and Datagroup-Volia to create a develop a converged telecommunications platform.
The new owners of the Ukrainian assets have announced strategic investments totalling US$435mn, financed by loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation to develop improving networks and expansion of fixed and mobile infrastructure in Ukraine.
