Kyivstar’s Value Rises 20% Since Nasdaq Listing – CEO

Shares in Ukraine’s top telecom and digital service provider Kyivstar rose by 20% since the company was listed on Nasdaq, Kyivstar President Oleksandr Komarov said in a CNBC interview on Friday.

Ukraine’s largest telecom company and mobile operator, Kyivstar, launched its Nasdaq listing on Aug. 15 under the ticker symbol KYIV – the first-ever listing of a Ukrainian company on a US stock exchange.

Kyivstar chose Nasdaq, compared to any other global stock exchange, since its parent company Veon is listed on the same stock exchange. Another reason is an agreement Nasdaq signed with the Ukrainian government, and a wish to make history by being the first ever Ukrainian entity to be listed on the US Stock exchange.

“It’s a kind of major event for the Ukrainian economy… a major event for the company. So I think that we are proud. At the same time, of course, it’s a difficult background [with] war in the country. But I think that we are moving, we are developing,” Komarov said on CNBC interview.

Kyivstar as a company does not forecast the war to end in 2025 or 2026, since Komarov said he “doesn’t want to speculate”, but rather plan to continue functioning during wartime.

“We rely on our ability to run and to develop business in very difficult circumstances. And it seems to me that we have proven this ability because we have demonstrated gross marginality during all three and a half years of that full scale work,” Komarov said.

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Kyivstar’s road to Nasdaq began in January, when it signed a memorandum of understanding with US investment firm Cohen Circle. Over the next six months, the company expanded beyond its core telecom operations, most notably acquiring Ukraine’s largest ride-hailing service, Uklon, for $155 million.

Kyivstar’s listing was approved after Cohen Circle shareholders on Aug. 12, greenlit a $2.2 billion merger between Ukraine’s Kyivstar and the US-based special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).The Opening Bell ceremony took place on Aug. 29.

Telecom and broadband remain Kyivstar’s core businesses, with a 47% share of Ukraine’s communications market and a place among the top three broadband internet providers. As of June 30, the company served nearly 23 million mobile customers and over 1.1 million fixed broadband users.