Veon finally completes Russia exit

Operator group Veon has completed the sale of its Russian subsidiary PJSC VimpelCom to the latter’s senior management team.

The process has taken almost a year to play out after it was announced last November. The price paid for VimpelCom was originally going to be some combination of cash and the assumption of its debt. But last month, perhaps because it must be difficult to raise money to invest in Russian assets these days, they decided taking on the debt alone was sufficient payment.

“The closing of the sale and the completion of our exit from Russia allow us to fully focus our energy on the way forward, meeting the growing demand in our markets – Pakistan, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan – with our digital operator strategy,” said Veon Group CEO Kaan Terzioglu.

“I am pleased to note that we are now in a much stronger position to deliver our strategic priorities. We would like to thank all our stakeholders and regulatory bodies, including U.S. Treasury, who have supported our company through this process.”

That was nice of them, wasn’t it? You can’t beat a bit of support every now and then. Whether or not Veon would have made this move were it not for the sanctions imposed by the US and its allies on Russia, and anything linked to it, after its invasion of Ukraine is another matter. But Terzioglu is understandably relieved that his company is now presumably insulated from any such collective punishment.

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