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Veon enters final stage in sale of its Russian business — Dutch holding

The company is transferring all the documentation to the international depositories Euroclear and Clearstream to cancel the Eurobonds owned by the Russian subsidiary

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. The Dutch holding Veon has entered the final stage in the sale of VimpelCom to its Russian top management, the holding said in a statement on Tuesday.

In particular, it is transferring all the documentation to the international depositories Euroclear and Clearstream to cancel the Eurobonds owned by the Russian subsidiary.

"Veon announces that it has submitted all necessary documentation to Euroclear, Clearstream and registrars for cancellation of Veon’s Eurobonds held by its subsidiary, PJSC VimpelCom. With this, the company enters the final stages in the closing of the sale of Veon’s Russia operations, which was announced on 24 November 2022," the statement says.

Veon CEO Kaan Terzioglu noted that cancellation of Veon’s Eurobonds "will pave the way for Veon to exit Russia in a way that we believe to be the optimal outcome for all our stakeholders."

"This cancellation protects Veon and its investors from a risk of double payments in the future. We look forward to the completion of this cancellation, a milestone in the closing of the sale of VEON’s Russia operations," he said as quoted by the press service.

Earlier, Veon said that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury, as well as the authorities of the UK and Bermuda, issued transaction licenses for the sale of VimpelCom. However, the holding does not consider it necessary to obtain a license from the European Union in order to sell the Russian subsidiary.

In November 2022, the telecom holding announced the sale of VimpelCom, which is part of the group. Beeline's top management, headed by General Director Alexander Torbakhov, concluded an agreement to buy VimpelCom from the holding. In accordance with the agreement, Veon should receive 130 billion rubles ($1.7 bln) from the sale of the asset. As announced, the transaction will be completed no later than June 1, 2023.

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