Forbes learned of VimpelCom’s plans to go public at the end of 2026

Interlocutors of the publication clarified that it is planned to raise the money to pay off the debt that arose after the management bought the company from the Veon holding a year earlier.

Forbes’ interlocutor in the investment community added that VimpelCom was planning to conduct an initial public offering (IPO), but postponed these plans when Sergei Anokhin took over as CEO of the company in July this year.

The amount of VimpelCom’s debt has not been disclosed, but it is known that the company’s purchase deal in the fall of 2023 cost management $1.5 billion. To pay this debt, the operator has already obtained a loan worth 750 million dollars. .

The cost of the entire VimpelCom, according to RBC, was then estimated at 370 billion rubles. VEON repaid the amount by canceling the debt to the Russian company and selling its bonds in Russia to senior management. The deal became the largest management buyout in Russian history and lasted 11 months.

Experts interviewed by the publication believe that market conditions are not currently the most favorable for an IPO. The main obstacle to entry into the stock market is the high interest rate, which will lead to a lower valuation of VimpelCom’s assets than in more stable economic conditions, says Artem Mikhailin, an analyst at Veles Capital. The current interest rate prevents business development with borrowed money.

“As long as the interest rate (and therefore the yield on deposits) in Russia exceeds 20%, any currency placement is doomed to failure. Few companies are capable of paying dividends of between 21% and 23% annually,” said Leonid Konik, partner at Comnews Research.

VimpelCom’s press service told Forbes that “there are no plans for an IPO.”

Other mobile phone operators also do not plan to carry out public offerings of their shares in the near future. Megafon, after leaving the London and Moscow exchanges in 2018, never returned to the stock market and the issue of the placement of shares of Rostelecom and MTS subsidiaries remains open, a source told Forbes.