The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) will allow the Azerbaijani mobile operator Bakcell to pursue its bid to acquire Vodafone Ukraine from Russia’s MTS.
Vodafone Ukraine is the country’s second largest mobile operator, and is owned by MTS indirectly via a holding company based in the Netherlands. The AMCU floated an option for Bakcell’s bid earlier this month; at the time MTS noted that it was open to options but no clear framework for a deal had been agreed.
In a statement published on its website, the AMCU said: “the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has given permission to Bakcell LLC (Baku, Azerbaijan) for the indirect purchase of shares of Preludium BV (Amsterdam, Netherlands) which [holds in] excess of 50% of votes in the management company. This will allow the Azerbaijani company to acquire indirect control over [the] Ukrainian mobile operator known under the brand Vodafone.”
