Latest news with #LeoMarchandon
Time of India
11-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Ukraine's Kyivstar to raise up to $200 million in landmark US listing, sources say
By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon Ukraine's biggest telecoms operator Kyivstar expects to raise between $50 million and $200 million through a landmark stock market listing in New York this year, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Kyivstar will become the first Ukraine-based company listed on a U.S. stock exchange when it joins Nasdaq via fintech entrepreneur Betsy Cohen 's special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Cohen Circle, thereby avoiding some of the complexities of a traditional initial public offering. The Ukrainian company's Dubai-based parent VEON has said the listing was expected by the third quarter of 2025 and that it will retain a minimum of 80% of the issued and outstanding shares of the telecoms business. VEON has already secured $52 million in non-redemption agreements with institutional investors, representing the minimum it expects to raise, the sources said. The maximum could reach $200 million depending on redemptions. LEADING UKRAINE'S RECONSTRUCTION While U.S. President Donald Trump continues his efforts to end the Russian war in Ukraine and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy enlists support from Europe and NATO, VEON hopes the Kyivstar listing will help to stoke investor appetite for Ukrainian assets ahead of the country's reconstruction. VEON Chief Executive Kaan Terzioglu said after the company reported earnings last Thursday that it had extremely strong support for the Kyivstar listing from U.S. authorities, Ukraine and the European Union. He dubbed the listing "the people's IPO", expressing his hope that investors around the world show their support for Ukraine. Telecoms group VEON, which exited the Russian market in 2023, had its corporate rights in Kyivstar restored by a Kyiv court last year after they had been seized over the previous involvement of sanctioned Russian individuals. Kyivstar, which has been given a pro forma valuation of $2.21 billion (1.89 billion euros), is the market-leading mobile operator in Ukraine with 24 million subscribers. Its revenue and core profit have surged since Russia's invasion, weathering cyberattacks and power outages during the conflict. ACTIVIST INVESTOR SUPPORT Cohen Circle and Kyivstar shareholders will hold separate meetings on Tuesday to vote on the planned listing, the final step before completing filings with the market regulator. Activist investor Shah Capital, VEON's fourth-largest shareholder with a 6.7% stake, told Reuters in an emailed statement that the IPO can be a success "in light of increased pressure on Russia to settle the conflict". Shah had publicly urged VEON to pursue the Kyivstar listing before the telecoms group made the final decision to float its Ukrainian unit in the U.S. despite previous hints at London or Warsaw as possible venues. Edison Group equity analysts Nick Paton and Dan Ridsdale said the deal's narrative is built around Ukraine's postwar reconstruction and digital infrastructure's role in that recovery. However, the move is not immune to risks, particularly geopolitical ones, they said. "Though VEON has exited Russia, lingering concerns over legacy shareholder links and ongoing exposure to volatile jurisdictions may cap upside. Any re-emergence of reputational or compliance risks could reintroduce a governance discount," Paton and Ridsdale said in a note.
Time of India
01-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Satellite group SES beats forecasts as defence spending rises in Europe
By Leo Marchandon European satellite company SES reported second-quarter sales and core earnings above market expectations and confirmed its 2025 guidance on Thursday, buoyed by its strong backlog of government contracts. "We have a robust pipeline of Government opportunities supported by increased defence spending in Europe," CEO Abdel Al-Saleh said in a statement. It recently announced a partnership with the government of Luxembourg to develop and launch a new defence satellite. SES completed its $3.1 billion acquisition of rival Intelsat earlier this month, as it seeks to position itself as a key European competitor to Elon Musk 's Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper alongside French peer Eutelsat. It has forecasted 1.8 billion euros in annual operating profit for the newly-merged entity, and recently appointed David Broadbent, formerly with Intelsat, to lead the combined government and defence divisions. The Luxembourg-based company signed 690 million euros ($789.15 million) worth of new contracts in the first half of 2025, with a gross backlog of 4.2 billion euros at the end of the period. SES said its up to 1.8 billion euro investment in the European Union's IRIS² satellite constellation would average 400 million euros annually in 2027-2030. IRIS² will deploy up to 170 satellites to provide secure communications for EU governments and commercial broadband services to underserved areas. The company's total revenue reached 469 million euros in the second quarter, ahead of analysts' 464 million euro forecast provided by SES. Adjusted core earnings (EBITDA) of 241 million euros also beat the market forecast of 232 million euros. However, SES reported a second-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders of 15 million euros, while analysts had expected a profit of 7 million euros.
Time of India
29-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Orange is open to M&A talks with rival SFR, CEO says after in-line results
By Leo Marchandon and Noemie Naudin Orange is open to consolidation talks with French rival SFR , pending the completion of its debt restructuring, the chief executive of France's biggest telecom provider said on Tuesday. "I can confirm that, France being our first market, we are ready to engage and indeed, there are preliminary discussions between operators," CEO Christel Heydemann said in a post-earnings call with analysts. She did not specify if SFR, also one of France's top operators, was one of the companies Orange was talking to. "We do think there is a need for consolidation - it is true in France and it is true in Europe," Heydemann said. Orange reported a 3.8% rise in its half-year core earnings after leases (EBITDAaL), buoyed by a strong performance in the French market and continued double-digit percentage growth in Africa and the Middle East. It also said it planned to finalise the signing of its Spanish fibre network joint venture within the previously announced time frame. "This will be completed in terms of signing by the end of the summer, and then the closing will be before the end of the year," finance chief Laurent Martinez told journalists. MasOrange, owned by Orange and MasMovil, is set to hold 50% of the venture, while Vodafone Spain, owned by Zegona Communications, will hold 10%. The remaining 40% is yet to be assigned to an investor, with Martinez declining to comment on whether a partner had been identified. Orange had 15.5 million fibre-to-the-home customers globally at the end of the reporting period, up from 15 million in the last quarter. Its number of mobile customers worldwide grew to 98.1 million from 95.7 million three months ago. Its half-year EBITDAaL - a common earnings metric used by telecom firms - was 5.66 billion euros ($6.55 billion) and met analysts' consensus in the first half of 2025. The company also nudged up its full-year EBITDAaL target to more than 3% growth, from around 3% previously.
Time of India
29-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Capgemini shares surge on higher-than-expected quarterly revenue
By Leo Marchandon French IT consulting firm Capgemini reported first-quarter revenue of 5.55 billion euros ($6.32 billion) on Tuesday, up 0.5% from last year at current exchange rates, on firm demand for its services focussed on cost-optimization. Capgemini shares jumped as much as 10%, as of 0704 GMT. Analysts at had expected revenue of 5.51 billion euros. Its service offers around cloud, data and artificial intelligence saw robust growth in the quarter, the company said. Despite the ongoing economic volatility, the company has not observed any significant impact on client decisions. "Clients are still cautious, so they are very focused on how they use their operations and reduce their costs, because they don't really see much growth in the current environment," CEO Aiman Ezzat said in a call. The company confirmed its guidance for 2025. "We retain the cautious stance adopted at the beginning of the year," Ezzat said in a statement.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Prosus to buy Just Eat to create a European food delivery 'champion'
By Leo Marchandon and Nqobile Dludla JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Dutch technology investor Prosus has agreed to buy Just Eat for 4.1 billion euros ($4.3 billion) to create a "European tech champion" of food delivery. Prosus, majority owned by South Africa's Naspers, is also the biggest shareholder in Glovo owner Delivery Hero with a 28% stake, it said in a statement on Monday. The deal would mark a significant shift in the European food delivery market and have potential global implications, as it would make Prosus the fourth largest food delivery company in the world behind Meituan, DoorDash and Uber, ING analysts said in a note. With a food business spanning more than 70 countries, Prosus also owns Latin America's top food delivery platform iFood, has a 25% stake in India's leading food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy and a 4% stake in Meituan, it said. Shares in Prosus fell 6% in Amsterdam after the announcement, while Just Eat surged 55% to match the premium of the offer price. Naspers' shares fell 6.3% in Johannesburg. Prosus is offering 20.30 euros per a Just Eat share. The offer for the entire share capital is unanimously supported by Just Eat's management and supervisory board. Shares in Delivery Hero jumped 5%. A German trader said some analysts were seeing the deal as a first step towards a merger between the Dutch and German food delivery groups. Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said there was no plan or project on Delivery Hero right now. "Our focus is growth and with growth we expect to create more jobs in many dimensions. More jobs in technology sector but also more jobs in restaurants and more opportunities for drivers too," he told reporters in a call, referring to Just Eat. Bloisi added that the new technology investment, including AI, would be aimed at making Just Eat's delivery model more efficient. "We are not looking forward to other big news in food delivery or acquisitions right now," he said. Citi analysts estimated that Prosus has some $5 billion to invest in further M&A, though they expect the near term focus to be on execution and growth in its owned assets. Just Eat's management will remain in place and the company will stay based in Amsterdam, its CEO Jitse Groen said in a separate media call. Earlier on Monday, Just Eat reported 36% growth in its 2024 core profit. ($1 = 0.9513 euros)
