Cabinet approves UMCC sale to Vodafone Ukraine’s Azerbaijani owner NEQSOL

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the sale of 100% of the shares of JSC United Mining and Chemical Company to the group of companies NEQSOL Holding, which is the owner of the mobile communications operator Vodafone Ukraine (PJSC VF Ukraine, Kyiv), for UAH 3.938 billion.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced this on the Telegram channel, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

"The government today decided to sell the state stake in UMCC, which was sold this week at the privatization auction. The United Mining and Chemical Company is the largest titanium ore mining and enrichment enterprise in Ukraine. The winner of the auction offered about UAH 4 billion," he wrote.

Also, according to Shmyhal, the winner of the auction will be required to invest at least UAH 400 million in the technical modernization of the enterprise.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the State Property Fund sold the UMCC to NEQSOL for almost UAH 4 billion.

The UMCC is the largest enterprise in Ukraine for extraction and enrichment of titanium ore concentrates.

The company includes the Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (Dnipropetrovsk Region) and the Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (Zhytomyr Region).

On December 3, 2019, the Bakcell mobile telecommunications operator (Azerbaijan) completed a deal to purchase the Kyiv-based Vodafone Ukraine mobile telecommunications operator (formerly known as MTS Ukraine) from the MTS telecommunications company for USD 734 million.

Bakcell is part of the NEQSOL Holding group of companies, the founder of which is the Azerbaijani Nasib Hasanov.

NEQSOL Holding is an international group of companies whose main areas of activity include energy, telecommunications, and construction.