By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon
(Reuters) -Telecoms group VEON (NASDAQ:VEON) is considering an initial public offering (IPO) for its Ukrainian unit Kyivstar in the U.S. as early as next year, CEO Kaan Terzioglu said on Thursday.
"We have not made those decisions yet, but we are committed to looking into IPOs of our local assets. And clearly, Kyivstar is one of those assets which could be in the line of this process," Terzioglu told Reuters in an interview.
Should the IPO go through, Kyivstar would become the first Ukrainian company to be listed in the United States.
VEON has not had any conversations with Ukrainian officials on the topic, as the process is still in the early stages, Terzioglu said.
He had previously hinted at a potential listing in Warsaw or London.
"For Ukraine, I think the local IPO in the Ukrainian market probably is a little bit more longer term issue than having an IPO in an international market," the CEO said.
The comments come after Nasdaq signed a partnership with the Ukrainian government in February to "support the development of Ukrainian capital markets".
In October, activist investor Shah Capital, which owns a 6.75% stake in VEON, urged the group to list Kyivstar on Nasdaq as a means to "unfreeze ownership shares".
In 2023, a court in Kyiv froze 47.85% of Kyivstar's corporate rights due to the previous involvement of sanctioned Russian individuals in VEON.
INVESTMENTS IN UKRAINE'S ENERGY SECTOR
VEON reiterated its commitment to invest $1 billion (950 million euros) in Ukraine's digital infrastructure by 2027.
"We have almost half a billion dollars of cash in Ukraine, so we will continue investing," Terzioglu said.
"Don't be surprised even if we go and buy assets in Ukraine," he added, saying VEON had already identified some candidates in energy generation and distribution, including solar power.
When asked if Donald Trump's re-election might affect VEON's operations in Ukraine, Terzioglu said his monetary and energy policies were "very positive from a frontier markets perspective" like VEON's.
Last year, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served under the first Trump administration, joined the board of Kyivstar.
VEON, which recently moved its headquarters to Dubai and will complete its Amsterdam delisting on Nov. 25 to be solely listed in the U.S., is also working on a potential listing of its Pakistani unit Jazz. Terzioglu declined to provide a specific timeline for the decision.
(1 euro = $1.0524)