Ukraine’s second-largest mobile operator, VF Ukraine (Vodafone Ukraine, VFU), which has bought back nearly $7 million worth of its own Eurobonds since the end of May as a result of three offers in connection with dividend payments, has announced an increase in the repurchase amount in the fourth such tender by $1.17 million to $5.12 million.
In a statement to the Irish Stock Exchange, the company noted that this is due to the company’s fifth monthly dividend payment of UAH 48.47 million, or about EUR 1 million.
Earlier, at the end of August, Vodafone Ukraine increased the redemption price from 85% to 90% of the nominal value and extended the deadline for accepting applications from August 28 to September 11, with settlements now planned for approximately September 18.
The first two times, Vodafone Ukraine redeemed bonds for an amount equivalent to EUR 1 million. The debut redemption 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.
According to 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.
Bonds maturing in February 2027 with a coupon rate of 9.625% per annum were issued for $300 million. After the cancellation of the redeemed bonds, the total nominal value of the bonds remaining in circulation is $292.532 million.
The redemption of Eurobonds is related to the fact that on April 24, 2025, VFU announced the payment 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 dividend 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.
As reported, VFU reduced its net profit by 13% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, to UAH 1.705 billion, while its revenue grew by 15%, to UAH 13.518 billion.
