French telecom magnate adds to Ukraine holdings with Datagroup provider after lifecell acquisition
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NJJ Capital, owned by French billionaire Xavier Niel, is buying the assets of Datagroup Holding Limited, a national fixed-line and digital services provider, news agency Interfax-Ukraine reported on Feb. 13, citing the response of Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee (AMCU).
NJJ Capital earlier announced the purchase of Turkcell's divisions in Ukraine — Lifecell LLC, Global Bilgi LLC, and Ukrtower LLC.
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The application of the authorized representatives of NJJ Capital (Paris, France) and Datagroup Holding Limited (Nicosia, Cyprus) for permission for NJJ Capital to indirectly acquire shares in Datagroup Holding Limited, which ensures exceeding 50 percent of the votes in the company's supreme management body, was submitted to the antitrust regulator on Dec. 29.
Given that the application did not meet the requirements set by the Committee, it was returned to the applicants on Jan. 12, 2024.
"A repeated application for acquisition of control by DVL Telecom (an entity that is part of the NJJ Group together with NJJ Capital) to acquire control over Datagroup Holding Limited was received by the Committee on Jan. 23, 2024," the AMCU's response reads.
“As of today, the Committee has accepted the said application for consideration.”
The Committee will consider the application within the time limits established by law.
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Datagroup-Volia is one of the leaders in the Ukrainian telecommunications industry. In June 2021, Datagroup finalized the acquisition of 100% of the Ukrainian pay-TV and cable high-speed Internet access provider Volia Group. The company is also actively developing the cloud services business — Volia's data center provides cloud and physical servers for use, offers hosting, colocation of clients' servers, IaaS cloud infrastructure, and a large list of related services. The company has been chosen as a service provider to host more than 3,000 servers.
The Turkish company Turkcell signed an agreement on Dec. 29, 2023, to transfer 100% of the shares, as well as all rights and debts of Lifecell (TM lifecell), the third largest Ukrainian mobile operator, as well as the contact center outsourcing company Global Bilgi LLC and the tower rental service provider UkrTower LLC to the French investment company NJJ Capital.
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The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine returned the first application for approval of the deal as it did not meet the requirements set by the Committee, but on Jan. 23, the Committee received a second application from DVL Telecom, a member of the NJJ group. It is currently being analyzed by the antitrust agency.
According to market participants, the partial seizure of shares in the companies being sold on charges against the sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, who indirectly controls a minority stake in Turkcell, may also be a problem for the completion of the deal.
NJJ Capital is owned by French billionaire Xavier Niel, the founder of the French telecommunications group Iliad (the parent company of Free, one of the country's largest Internet providers), whose fortune is estimated by Bloomberg at $6.08 billion.
Niel also has assets in media, including a significant stake in Le Monde newspaper, is involved in venture capital financing, and founded the technical school 42, which launched UNIT Factory in Kyiv's UNIT City.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
