Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), Ukraine’s second-largest mobile operator, which repurchased its own Eurobonds worth approximately $18.9 million at the end of May following several offers in connection with the payment of dividends, has announced another similar tender at a price of 98% of the nominal value for a total amount of $1.475 million.
As noted in a statement on the Irish Stock Exchange on Wednesday, on January 2, the company made another monthly dividend payment of UAH 49.315 million, which is equivalent to the monthly ceiling of EUR 1 million set by the National Bank.
Applications for participation in the tender will be accepted until January 21 inclusive, and settlements are planned for January 28.
Bonds maturing in February 2027 with a nominal rate of 9.625% per annum were issued for $300 million. Their redemption is related to the fact that on April 24, 2025, VFU announced the accrual of dividends to its shareholder in the amount of UAH 660.245 million ($15.9 million at the exchange rate specified in the announcement) for 2024. According to the restrictions of the National Bank, they will be paid in separate monthly payments. Each such monthly dividend is expected to amount to UAH 1 million. The company emphasized that under the terms of the bond issue, in this case, it must offer all bondholders to submit an application for their sale for an amount equal to the amount of dividends paid outside Ukraine.
In the first two tenders, mobile operator Vodafone Ukraine repurchased bonds for an amount equivalent to EUR 1 million. The debut repurchase was announced at a price of 99% of the nominal value, the second at 90% of the nominal value. The company did not announce the results of the second buyback on the stock exchange, while the scaling factor for the first buyback was 0.0040355668.
Following the results of the third tender, where the redemption price was reduced to 85% of the nominal value and the offer was limited to $4.67 million, Vodafone Ukraine received bids for $53.395 million and satisfied them in the amount of $5.208 million. The scaling factor was 0.1315451889487317.
The fourth tender was announced on August 13, but was then extended seven times. As a result, the redemption price was increased from 85% to 98%, and the redemption amount to $10.84 million. The company received bids for $127.14 million for this amount. Some of the bonds were returned to their owners due to the impossibility of splitting the nominal value, and the rest were accepted with a scaling factor of 0.1150681.
Finally, at the fifth bond redemption tender in December, where the price was again 98%, Vodafone Ukraine received high demand, which exceeded the offer of $1 million 164.7 thousand by more than 50 times. The scaling factor was set at 0.01901.
In total, according to the results of five tenders, the total nominal value of bonds remaining in circulation is $280 million 614.93 thousand.
As reported, mobile operator VFU increased its net profit by 10.7% to UAH 3 billion 446.80 million and its revenue by 13.3% to UAH 19.03 billion in the first nine months of this year.
The report noted that in order to service and redeem Eurobonds, the company received loans from related parties in 2025. In February, the parent company Telco Investments B.V. provided $49.59 million for partial repayment of the Eurobond debt. In June, an agreement was signed with Telco Investments for a dollar credit line in the amount equivalent to UAH 660 million, at 10% per annum, maturing in 2028.
Finally, in July 2025, a loan agreement was signed with the Dutch company Cemin B.V. for $10 million at 10% per annum, with a repayment date no later than the end of 2027, but not earlier than the maturity of the Eurobonds. The funds are credited in tranches to the company’s bank account in a foreign bank and are to be used to redeem bonds, which Vodafone Ukraine is doing in connection with the resumption of dividend payments this year.
