The deal is structured as follows:

• MTS signed an agreement on the sale of telecom business with Telco Solutions and Investments, a company controlled by Bakcell, which is part of the international group of companies NEQSOL Holding.
• Under the terms of the agreement, MTS sells a 100% stake to Preludium BV (Netherlands), the sole shareholder of PrJSC VF Ukraine, through its subsidiary Allegretto Holding S.a.r.l. (Luxembourg).

The deal value is $734 million, including a deferred payment of approximately $84 million.

The stake will be transferred to the new owner soon.

The deal will not affect Vodafone Ukraine’s operations on the Ukrainian market.

Information on the acquiring company

Bakcell is a mobile operator and the leading mobile internet provider in Azerbaijan. The company was founded in 1994 as a joint venture between the state and the Israeli company GTIB. Bakcell network includes 7,500 base stations, which cover 93% of the country. The company serves more than 3 million customers.

It is part of the international NEQSOL Holding Group, founded in the early 1990s, which operates in the oil and gas, telecommunications, high-tech, and construction industries. The group of companies operates in such countries as Great Britain, USA, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, UAE, Bangladesh, etc. In particular, it includes oil and gas companies Nobel Oil Services (UK) Limited and Nobel Oil E&P (UK) Limited, construction company Norm, etc.

The Antimonopoly Committee granted permission to Bakcell LLC (Baku, Azerbaijan) for the indirect acquisition of shares of Preludium B.V. (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), which ensures that the company’s supreme management body has more than 50% of the votes.

This will allow the Azerbaijani company to acquire indirect control over the Ukrainian mobile operator known under the Vodafone brand.

From a message on the AMCU website.

For the first time, they started talking about the acquisition of Vodafone Ukraine in early October. Back then, the Azerbaijani company first applied to the AMCU. Experts evaluated the potential deal at USD 1.2 – 1.3 billion.

• Bakcell is a mobile operator and a leading provider of mobile Internet in Azerbaijan. The company was founded in 1994 as a joint venture between the state and the Israeli company GTIB.
• Bakcell network includes 7,500 base stations, which cover 93% of the country. The company serves more than 3 million customers (Vodafone Ukraine has 19.7 million ones).

Key activities of the company are R&D and system integration. The company is headed by Aleksandr Denisyuk and Igor Shkurko is in charge of its R&D center.

Aleksandr Denisyuk. Photo: Vodafone Ukraine

Currently, the main customer of the company is Vodafone Ukraine. However, it is ready to work with external markets, including those where Vodafone is already present.

IT Smartflex’s staff is small, and it is on the lookout for talents, including front-end and back-end developers. Front-end talents must have a good grasp of Angular, HTML, CSS. Back-end ones are primarily needed for Java development, Oracle and other database solutions. The company is also looking for testers (including test automation engineers).

Sources in the company informed AIN.UA that this year IT Smarflex is planning to hire up to 100 employees. Candidate requirements do not include the mastery of English since the main customer is a Ukrainian company.

Vodafone pointed out that the company will continue to buy Huawei equipment for the development of 4G and 5G networks, however, it will suspend its use in core networks for security reasons. Representatives of the operator said that this decision was not dictated by political pressure, but because of the “unhealthy level of noise” around the Chinese company.

The press service of “Vodafone Ukraine” told the AIN.UA editor that this decision would not affect Ukraine.

This service allows you to keep your phone number including with code when switching from one mobile operator to another. For example, Lifecell customers will be able to change to Kyivstar tariffs and preserve the number with “093”, “063” or “073” code, or vice versa. The similar opportunity is offered by Vodafone Ukraine.

To use this service, the pre-paid subscribers should register at the operator the mobile number is ported from by providing an identifying document. Then they will be able to apply to the operator for servicing. The contract customers need not perform this procedure. The operators emphasize that the subscribers will not get confused in the networks, as prior to connection they will be informed that they call to the mobile number ported.

Vodafone Ukraine points out that the mobile number portability process will take to three business days. The operator also emphasizes that the service cost is not known yet but adds that it may be free. However, the mobile number portability will be available once every 30 days only.