Dubai: The Nasdaq-listed Veon Group – operator of Pakistan’s Jazz telco as well as Ukraine’s Kyivstar – is shifting its global headquarters to Dubai from Amsterdam.
Veon’s revenues in 2023 totaled $3.7 billion, with its Pakistan operations contributing the most to the top-line with 30%. The Ukraine operations accounted for 25%.
“Jazz and Kyivstar are market leaders in Pakistan and Ukraine respectively, and among the largest companies in the countries,” said Kaan Terzioglu, Group CEO of Veon.
On the decision to shift the HQ from Amsterdam, this ‘makes us the largest Nasdaq-listed company with its group headquarters in Dubai,” said Terzioglu. “Dubai is a great hub for our business, and having a stronger presence here will enable us to attract world-class talent and facilitate engagement with investors in the Gulf region.
“This move also brings our HQ in closer proximity to our key markets. Veon really prioritizes taking decisions where they matter. We manage our operations through operating company boards which I chair.
“We are committed to a ‘lean’ headquarters and distributed decision-making model, which will not change. But this move brings the heart of the Group closer to our operations, to the region and to an enhanced pool of Gulf investors.
The Veon Group has around 17,000 employees, with the ‘vast majority’ located in the countries that it operates in.
Apart from Pakistan and Ukraine, Veon is operating telcos in four other markets - Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. And these ‘collectively serve 160 milion customers with connectivity and 110 million cumulative monthly active users with digital applications’, the CEO added.
Apart from Jazz, Veon also owns Mobilink Bank and JazzCash, which is ‘Pakistan’s largest financial services application with nearly 18 million monthly active users’.
“The financial value of the transactions that go through JazzCash on a 12-month basis is the equivalent of 7% of Pakistan’s GDP,” said Terzioglu. (The Jazz portfolio also includes Tamasha, the digital entertainment app, and Garaj, the on-shore cloud for Pakistani businesses.)
$1b into Ukraine
Veon has committed $1 billion in investments through 2027 on its Ukraine operations. “This investment will continue to drive the digital transformation of the country,” said the CEO.
“Kyivstar is an example that demonstrated how a digital operator could support a country’s resilience. In addition to ensuring essential connectivity, we have invested heavily in Ukraine’s digital infrastructure and future.
“This includes Helsi - Ukraine’s digital healthcare platform which now provides services infrastructure to 1,600 healthcare institutions and 28 million registered patients – that we acquired in August 2022, at a time where most private sector companies wouldn’t consider investments in Ukraine.”
‘Window into frontier markets’
“We serve emerging markets meeting the high demand for digitalization, which often means meeting the needs of the underserved populations hungry for services,” said Terzioglu.
“Turning this opportunity into growth for all our stakeholders, we are excited to be the window into frontier markets for our global investor base – and being based in Dubai now allows us to share this opportunity with Gulf investors.”
