CEO of lifecell Ismet Yazici will leave his position on the day the company comes under the control of French NJJ; the next day, the merged company Data-Volia-lifecell will be officially headed by Mykhailo Shelemba.

"The day the deal closes will be his [Ismet Yazici] last working day [at lifecell]. From the next day, I will be the CEO of the merged company," CEO of Datagroup-Volia Mykhailo Shelemba said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

He confirmed that the deal will be closed in the near future.

According to Shelemba, the team's vision for the merged company has been more or less formed. Almost every top manager of lifecell has already had a conversation: they discussed who is staying, who is not, on what terms. There have been no extensive meetings or communications with the lifecell team and contractors yet, since the deal has not yet been completed.

The Project Management Office (PMO), which will be headed by an invited top manager, will be engaged in integration processes in the merged company. His name has not yet been disclosed.

Earlier, it was reported that the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) allowed DVL Telecom from the orbit of NJJ of French billionaire Xavier Niel to concentrate the assets of the third largest mobile operator in Ukraine, lifecell. Following the meeting, DVL Telecom was granted permission to acquire control over Global Bilgi LLC, Lifecell, and Ukrtower. At the meeting on March 7, 2024, the AMCU allowed DVL Telecom, a subsidiary of NJJ, to acquire control over Datagroup Holding Limited (Datagroup-Volia).

The new company will be owned by the investment holding company of French billionaire Xavier Nel NJJ (85%, works primarily in the telecommunications sector), the private equity fund Horizon Capital, specializing in investments in developing countries of Europe (10%), and the CEO, minority shareholder of the company Datagroup-Volia Mykhailo Shelemba (5%). It is expected that after the merger it will have about 5,000 employees working in the office and on the road.

Earlier, Ismet Yazici announced on social networks that he intends to leave the position of CEO of lifecell after the deal with NJJ is closed.