By Nate Wolf
Executives from Kyivstar Group are ringing the Nasdaq opening bell Friday, capping off a busy few days of trans-Atlantic flights, presentations, and investor meetings for Ukraine's largest mobile and broadband operator.
A delegation of business elites from the war-torn country descended on New York this week to drum up interest on Wall Street. Western investors, they say, have an opportunity to essentially buy low on Ukraine, more than 3 1/2 years after Russia invaded the country.
"I am absolutely sure that Ukrainian assets are undervalued," Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov, a Kyiv native, told Barron's. "Ukrainian potential is undervalued."
The blitz follows Kyivstar's blank-check merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, on Aug. 15, which made it the first Ukrainian offering on U.S. public markets. Trading under the ticker KYIV, shares soared 32% in their first two full trading sessions earlier this month, perhaps because of investors' hopes for peace talks. Since then, however, the stock's overall performance has flattened out.
Kyivstar has risen 0.3% since the SPAC merger, closing at $12.74 on Thursday.
The stock's success in the coming months is one bellwether for Western investors' willingness to pour money into a country still mired in war. Doing so carries obvious financial and security risks, but it might also be an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of Ukraine's eventual reconstruction. The Kyivstar team says investing in the country offers cheap entry into a market with around 30 million consumers and strong ties to Europe.
The company pitched investment funds specializing in emerging markets and telecommunications in this week's events, Komarov said. It also joined parent company VEON and representatives from around 40 Ukrainian businesses and institutions, per Komarov's count, for a closed-door symposium. The event is part of a new "Invest in Ukraine NOW!" campaign that VEON announced Thursday.
Putting the war aside, the company has plenty of selling points.
With 22 million mobile customers and 1.1 million broadband subscribers, Kyivstar claims the largest share of both markets in Ukraine. The company has also been growing what it calls its digital segment, which includes a telehealth provider, a streaming service, an enterprise technology business, and the ride-hailing platform Uklon, purchased for $155 million earlier this year.
Kyivstar posted revenue of $1.04 billion over the 12 months ended June 30. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization totaled $589 million in that same period, for an Ebitda margin of 57%.
But the war isn't some kind of footnote. Kyivstar says it lost up to 3.1 million subscribers between January 2022 and December 2024 due in part to out-migration and the loss of territory. And a Russian cyberattack against the company in 2023 resulted in a full disruption of its network.
Despite his recent discussions with President Donald Trump, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is unlikely to sanction an end to Russia's ongoing offensive before October, said Alexey Eremenko, a regional expert at risk consultancy Control Risks. And a cease-fire after that point is far from certain.
"It still feels like the Kremlin is weighing its options," Eremenko told Barron's. "And my feeling is that it's leaning towards continuing the war."
Kyivstar insists that an imminent peace agreement isn't necessary to make its stock an attractive investment. The company has been operating in these circumstances for multiple years now and has still managed sustainable growth, Komarov pointed out.
The war has made dealmaking more challenging, but it has also made Ukrainian assets cheaper and more attractive than their peers in other countries, said Dan Pasko, a Kyivstar board member and a partner at Kyiv-based private-equity firm Diligent Capital Partners.
"We kept investing," Pasko told Barron's. "Even throughout the war times."
The Ukrainian economy has also stabilized after the initial shock of Russia's invasion. Real gross domestic product has grown in each of the last two years, after declining 29% in 2022. Foreign direct investment, too, has recovered to prewar trends, according to International Monetary Fund data.
After the war -- whenever that comes -- foreign investors will find a country deeply integrated with the West, with a government focused on deregulation and digitization, Komarov says. And any resolution to the conflict will likely include security guarantees that deter further Russian aggression.
"I think we will be one of the best protected countries in the world," Komarov said.
Whether that argument is enough to coax American funds into opening their coffers before the war ends is an open question. At the very least, the successful SPAC merger, which resulted in $178 million in cash proceeds, shows some appetite among investors.
For now, Kyivstar executives see the company's historic public listing as a sign of better days ahead -- for both the company and Ukraine as a whole.
"It is a moment of celebration for us, especially considering the challenges which the country and the company went through," said Pasko, who is from the Black Sea port of Odessa. "It's time for a little celebration."
Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com
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August 29, 2025 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
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