By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon
(Reuters) -Kyivstar shares dropped over 9% on Friday after the mobile operator became the first Ukrainian company to list in the United States, just hours before a summit between U.S. and Russian leaders to discuss a potential peace deal in Ukraine.
The meeting in Alaska between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could be a step towards ending a war that has crippled Ukraine’s economy, although with Kyiv absent from the talks expectations are low.
“We will be the best asset for the international investment community to invest in Ukraine, to invest in the Ukrainian recovery, to invest in the Ukrainian support,” Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov told Reuters in an interview, adding that a peace deal would help to boost the company’s value..
Kyivstar’s shares were down 9.3% to $11.5 at 1400 GMT, following their Nasdaq debut.
Komarov had warned that Kyivstar’s first few weeks of trading would be volatile, adding that a turbulent external environment was already incorporated in its valuation.
STRENGTHENING LINKS TO U.S.
Komarov said the company chose Nasdaq, where its Dubai-headquartered parent VEON is also listed, over London or Warsaw because it was even more important to “strengthen the link between the United States and Ukraine rather than between Ukraine and Europe”.
The company has deepened its U.S. ties during the conflict, appointing former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to its board and signing a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink for satellite services.
Kyivstar is the biggest mobile operator in Ukraine with 24 million subscribers. Founded in 1994, it became part of VEON in 2010. Apart from telecoms, Kyivstar owns digital health platform Helsi and ride-hailing firm Uklon.
VEON, which is retaining a majority stake in Kyivstar, pitched the listing as an opportunity for foreign investors to bet on Ukraine’s reconstruction. But its success hinges in part on a peace deal being achieved.
Activist investor Shah Capital, which has said it will indirectly own over 6% of Kyivstar, told Reuters in an emailed statement that it still expected a “decent part of frozen Russian funds to be used to rebuild Ukraine as part of this ongoing process of peace efforts”.
Shah is one of VEON’s largest shareholders and was the first to publicly urge the group to list its Ukrainian business last year.
Kyivstar carried out the listing by merging with fintech entrepreneur Betsy Cohen’s special purpose acquisition company.
The company raised $178 million. Reuters had previously reported that Kyivstar expected to raise up to $200 million.
Komarov said the Nasdaq debut showed what Ukrainian companies could accomplish by accessing international markets and that prominent Ukrainian business leaders had spoken to him in recent months about Kyivstar’s listing strategy.
“This is one of the dimensions of our integration into the Western world that should be developed and should be supported,” he said.
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon. Editing by Matt Scuffham, Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter)
