CI VIEW: Mike Pompeo greenlights VEON takeover for Ukraine’s largest FDI
WASHINGTON DC/Odesa, Ukraine (CI Ukraine)-- Mike Pompeo - former Secretary of State and CIA director under President Donald Trump - effectively pulled the trigger for the largest foreign direct investment in Ukraine with the takeover of VEON , the $2.1 billion Nasdaq-listed parent of Ukraine’s largest mobile phone operator, Ки?встар .
Former US Secretary of State and VEON independent board member Mike Pompeo speaks to Capitol Intelligence/CI Ukraine using Glass on a friendly takeover bid for Nasdaq listed VEON [Nasdaq:VEON] Kyivstar and that sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman has no influence over the company ahead of speaking at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC on September 17, 2024
Speaking as VEON’s independent board member, Pompeo told this news service that he would welcome a takeover offer for the company by the likes of US private equity giants Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle and that VEON’s former controlling shareholder, sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, “is completely out” of VEON.
The? takeover of VEON would follow the foot steps Xavier Neil, the billionaire founder of France’s Iliad telco group, to acquire Ukraine’s third-largest mobile phone operator and data provider Lifecell/Datagroup-Volia of which $435 million underwritten by the World Bank’s IFC - International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD .? An official deal signing took place in Paris on October 9, 2024 hosted by French Foreign Minister Jean-No?l Barrot .
Former Serbian deputy prime minister and finance minister Bozidar Djelic acted as financial advisor for lifecell Ukraine owners in his current role of investment banker for Lazard in Paris. The EBRD said the transaction represents the largest foreign direct investment in Ukraine to date.
Fridman, who controlled 45 percent of VEON through his London-based LetterOne holding company, was forced to remove himself from the LetterOne board and that all his assets in the company are frozen following UK sanctions triggered by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Rt Hon Sir Brandon Lewis CBE -- a former UK Lord Chancellor -- was appointed to the VEON board to represent LetterOne in a move to assuage UK government concerns that Fridman can neither influence nor benefit from VEON, an investment banker working with VEON said.
Fridman, once the most feared and ruthless of the oligarchs, became a subject of scorn and ridicule in the UK for having to beg for an allowance to pay servants and maintain his $100 million mansion in London.
Fiat Chrysler Automobile Chairman John Elkann speaks with Capitol Intelligence using CI Glass at Milan's Malpensa airport. June 3, 2014
Another VEON shareholder who welcomes a friendly offer for VEON is John Elkann, the Italian American heir to the Agnelli industrial dynasty of Stellantis (Fiat-Chrysler-Peugeot), Ferrari and Case New Holland CNH .
Elkann, whose Amsterdam-based Exor N.V. financial holdings holds a 7.2 pct stake in VEON, is interested in joining a friendly takeover of VEON by the likes of a Blackstone / KKR or 凯雷投资集团 lyle Group, sources close to Elkann said.
Elkann doubled up his investment in VEON after Fridman assets were frozen, seeing a more than 60 percent gain in VEON’s share price.
It is understood the second largest shareholder in VEON, a Dutch trust (stichting) with 7.9 percent stake, is likely to have its voting rights suspended and any proceeds frozen until the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Dutch market regulators can determine whether Fridman has any beneficiary ownership in the Stichting.
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KKR co-founder Henry Kravis will be interested in VEON after acquiring TIM (formerly Telecom Italia) fixed line domestic operations while Blackstone co-founder Stephen A. Schwarzman is pushing his PE fund to make Ukraine investments, such as their current talks talks with Kyiv, Ukraine-based Boosteroid Cloud Gaming , the world’s third largest video gaming cloud hosting concern.
In fact, a PE takeover of VEON is universally welcomed by the Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelensky, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo , 世界银行 President Ajay Banga, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation CEO Scott Nathan and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Pompeo’s positive commitments for a full takeover has all but scuttled a plan by the Rothschild investment bank to spin-off VEON’s mobile towers operations. The spin-off had been widely seen a move that would benefit Fridman, who opposes the sale of VEON.
Mike Pompeo, in complete contrast to Trump VP pick US Senator JD Vance, is one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters.
In an editorial in the Wall Street Journal titled “A Trump Peace Plan for Ukraine", Pompeo proposed that $500 billion of Russian frozen assets be immediately handed over to Ukraine so it can fund its war against Russia and begin the task of reconstructing the nation. Pompeo’s Op-ed mirrors a similar editorial published in the Asia Times on December 27, 2023.
Carlyle co-Chairman and co-founder David Rubenstein speaks with Capitol Intelligence/CI Ukraine using CI Glass on how Carlyle and Blackstone of Stephen Schwarzman are leading private sector investment and support for Ukraine at the Library of Congress annual National Book Festival in Washington, DC on August 24, 2024
Not only is Fridman's removal from Kyivstar and the ability for Ukraine war victims to use Fridman for his ill-gotten billions a win-win but VEON become the new leader of mobile telephony in the developing world.
Apart from Kyivstar, VEON is the leading mobile phone operator in Pakistan (Jazz), Bangladesh (banglalink), and Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgzstan (Beeline).? Blackstone/KKR/Carlyle would be accquiring a well manged telecommunications company with an American chairman Augie K Fabela II capable tkaing over mobile phone operators such as the currently distressed African mobile phone operator, Africell Group .
The Chicago-based Fabela was one of the first Americans to go into Russian during the Wild East 1990s and also serves as a police SWAT commando for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office of Blues Brothers film fame.
By PK Semler in Washington, DC and Odesa, Ukraine. For more information, email [email protected]
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1 周I want to thank you again for a bunch of interesting information. Some of my thoughts are outlined here https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/whats-happening-kyivstar-veon-unpacking-capitol-groups-roman-khimich-ggsae/
Your Go-To Professional in Managing Conflicts and Communicating Crucial Issues
1 周This is incredibly interesting and something entirely unknown in Ukraine. My utmost respect for bringing this to light. That said, I’d love to clarify: what is meant by the "ability for Ukraine war victims to use Fridman for his ill-gotten billions"? Specifically, how would this ability be realized, and what mechanisms or processes are being referenced?
Entrepreneur
1 个月I think this is very speculative and Pompeo doesn’t have any authority for this. Nevertheless, I would not be against it.