Vodafone Ukraine raises buyback price to 90% of par value
Ukraine's second-largest mobile operator, VF Ukraine (Vodafone Ukraine, VFU), which since late May has repurchased nearly $7 million of its eurobonds through three separate tenders tied to dividend payments, announced it is raising the buyback price in its fourth tender from 85% to 90% of par.
According to the company's filing on the Irish Stock Exchange, the maximum repurchase volume remains $3.945 million, as announced on August 13. However, the deadline for bids has been extended from August 28 to September 11, with settlement expected around September 18.
In its first two tenders, Vodafone Ukraine repurchased bonds worth the equivalent of EUR 1 million. The debut tender was priced at 99% of par, the second at 90%. The company did not disclose results of the second tender, but the scaling factor for the first was 0.0040355668.
In the third tender, priced at 85% of par and capped at $4.67 million, Vodafone Ukraine received $53.395 million in offers and repurchased $5.208 million worth, with a scaling factor of 0.1315451889487317.
The bonds, maturing in February 2027 with a coupon of 9.625% per annum, were originally issued for $300 million. Following cancellations of repurchased bonds, $292.532 million remain outstanding.
The buyback program is linked to VFU's April 24, 2025 announcement of dividend payments totaling UAH 660.245 million ($15.9 million at the reported exchange rate) to its shareholder for 2024. Under National Bank restrictions, dividends are being paid in monthly installments equivalent to EUR 1 million each. Four such payments have already been made.
The bond prospectus requires the company, when paying dividends abroad, to offer bondholders the right to tender their notes for repurchase in an amount equal to the dividends paid.
In 2024, VFU increased revenue by 13.1% to UAH 24.44 billion, while net profit fell 30.1% to UAH 3.54 billion.
In January–March 2025, revenue rose 14% year-on-year to UAH 6.59 billion, while net profit dropped 24% to UAH 697 million.