lifecell

Turkish operator with a “Russian shadow” — and 9 million subscribers held hostage

lifecell is the third largest mobile operator in Ukraine with 9 million subscribers. The official owner is the Turkish telecom giant Turkcell. However, in October 2023, lifecell became the epicenter of a scandal involving a “Russian trace.”

Arrest due to Friedman and 1.5 billion potential investments on hold

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv arrested 100% of the corporate rights of LLC "Lifecell" valued at nearly 13 billion UAH — because sanctioned Russian oligarchs Friedman, Aven, and Kosogov indirectly owned 19.8% of Turkcell shares through the company LetterOne. The arrest also included PayCell — the operator’s payment system through which subscribers top up their accounts — and UkrTower — a mobile communications tower operator. The arrest blocked the deal to sell lifecell to French billionaire Xavier Niel for $525 million and the related $1.5 billion in investments.

Appeal and green light for the sale

In April 2024, the Kyiv Court of Appeal lifted the arrest on 19.8% of lifecell shares and 100% of PayCell, enabling progress on the deal with Xavier Niel's NJJ Capital. The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine confirmed: despite the formal connection to Friedman, he is not the ultimate beneficiary and will not receive any funds from the deal. The EBRD and IFC approved allocating $435 million to finance the future merged company "Datarroup-Volia — lifecell."