Vodafone Ukraine receives $127.14 mln in bids at $10.8 mln eurobond buyback tender
Ukraine’s second-largest mobile operator, Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), which has repurchased nearly $7 million of its own eurobonds since late May in connection with dividend payments, received bids totaling $127.14 million by nominal value at its latest tender to buy back bonds with an aggregate nominal value of $10.84 million.
According to the company’s exchange filing, some bonds were returned to holders because they could not be broken down into smaller nominal amounts; the remainder were accepted with a scaling factor of 0.1150681.
As a result, on the settlement date of November 20, the tender bought bonds with a total nominal value of $10,773,230. All of these were cancelled, and after their cancellation the total nominal value of bonds remaining in circulation stands at $281,759,030.
Previously, in the first two tenders Vodafone Ukraine repurchased bonds totaling the equivalent of EUR 1 million. The debut buyback was announced at 99% of par, the second at 90% of par. The company did not publish the results of the second buyback on the exchange, whereas the scaling factor for the first buyback was 0.0040355668.
In the third tender, where the purchase price was lowered to 85% of par and the offer was limited to $4.67 million, Vodafone Ukraine received bids for $53.395 million and satisfied them to the amount of $5.208 million. The scaling factor was 0.1315451889487317.
The fourth tender was announced on August 13 and was subsequently extended seven times. During that process the buyback price was ultimately increased from 85% to 98%, and the buyback amount raised to $10.84 million.
The bonds in question mature in February 2027 and carry a nominal coupon of 9.625% per annum; they were originally issued in the amount of $300 million. After cancellation of the repurchased bonds, the total nominal value of bonds still outstanding is $292.532 million.
The buybacks are linked to VFU’s April 24, 2025 announcement of dividend payments to its shareholder totaling UAH 660.245 million (equivalent to $15.9 million at the exchange rate cited in the filing) for 2024. Under National Bank restrictions, these dividends are being paid as separate monthly dividend payments. Each monthly dividend is expected to equal the hryvnia equivalent of EUR 1 million. The company noted that under the bond issue terms it must, in that case, offer all bondholders the opportunity to tender bonds for sale in an amount equal to dividends paid abroad. Seven monthly dividend payments, each roughly equivalent to EUR 1 million, have already been made.
As reported, VFU increased net profit by 10.7% year-to-date to UAH 3,446.80 million, and revenue rose 13.3% to UAH 19.03 billion.
The report also noted that the company has been borrowing from related parties this year to service and repurchase eurobonds. In February, the parent company Telco Investments B.V. provided $49.59 million for partial repayment of eurobond debt. In June, Telco Investments and VFU agreed a dollar credit line equivalent to UAH 660 million at 10% per annum, maturing in 2028.
Finally, in July 2025 a loan agreement with Dutch Cemin B.V. was signed for $10 million at 10% per annum, repayable no later than the end of 2027 but not earlier than the redemption of the eurobonds. Funds are credited in tranches to the company’s account in a foreign bank and are to be used to buy back the eurobonds that Vodafone Ukraine is repurchasing in connection with the resumption of dividend payments this year.
