Key Takeaways
- • Horizon Capital won the 2026 Real Deals Private Equity Award for Central and Eastern European Deal of the Year for its role in the Datagroup-Volia-Lifecell (DVL) transaction, a $1.5 billion landmark investment combining three major Ukrainian telecom operators.
- • The transaction represents the first major strategic investment by a foreign institutional investor in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began, with Xavier Niel's NJJ Holding leading the consortium alongside Horizon Capital's 10% co-investment and a debt package of $435 million from the EBRD and IFC.
- • Horizon Capital's operational management transformed Datagroup-Volia through five years of value creation, achieving 4.8x EBITDA growth and 3.8x revenue growth, ultimately creating a converged telecom platform serving over 10 million mobile users and 4 million fixed-line households.
- • The deal also earned Horizon Capital the 2025 Deal Innovation Award from the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA), recognizing the firm's structuring approach and ability to coordinate complex international capital sources and strategic partnerships during wartime conditions.
- • The transaction signals institutional confidence in Ukraine's economic resilience and infrastructure investment potential, despite ongoing military conflict.
Summary
Horizon Capital has been recognized as the winner of the 2026 Real Deals Private Equity Awards' Central and Eastern European Deal of the Year for its pivotal role in structuring and executing the Datagroup-Volia-Lifecell transaction. The transaction, valued at $1.5 billion including acquisition price and committed capital expenditure, represents one of Ukraine's largest M&A transactions in decades and the first major blue-chip foreign strategic investment in the country since the onset of the full-scale invasion.
The deal brought together three major players in Ukraine's telecommunications sector: Datagroup and Volia, which Horizon Capital had previously transformed into a national fixed-line champion, along with Lifecell, the country's fastest-growing mobile operator. The consortium was led by Xavier Niel's investment vehicle NJJ Holding, a notable European telecom and technology entrepreneur with historical roots in the sector through his founding of Iliad. Horizon Capital's Fund IV invested 10% alongside NJJ and orchestrated $435 million in debt financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), both long-standing backers of Horizon Capital's fund vehicles.
Under Horizon Capital's operational leadership since 2016, when the firm expanded control of Datagroup, the platform achieved substantial operational improvement. Over a five-year period, the company grew EBITDA by 4.8x and revenue by 3.8x, while simultaneously reducing leverage from 2.0x to 0x. The acquisition of Volia in 2021, funded by EBRD acquisition financing, marked an intermediate milestone in creating a converged telecom operator. The ultimate merger with Lifecell created a unified platform serving over 10 million mobile users and connecting 4 million households through fixed infrastructure.
Horizon Capital also received the 2025 Deal Innovation Award from the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA), an international organization representing over 300 private capital funds across 60 countries. GPCA commended the firm's vision and professional execution in managing the transaction's complexity, particularly its innovative approach to capital structuring and partnership architecture. The recognition underscores the transaction's significance as a statement of international investor confidence in Ukraine's post-conflict recovery trajectory and the viability of large-scale infrastructure investment during wartime conditions.
The deal brought together three major players in Ukraine's telecommunications sector: Datagroup and Volia, which Horizon Capital had previously transformed into a national fixed-line champion, along with Lifecell, the country's fastest-growing mobile operator. The consortium was led by Xavier Niel's investment vehicle NJJ Holding, a notable European telecom and technology entrepreneur with historical roots in the sector through his founding of Iliad. Horizon Capital's Fund IV invested 10% alongside NJJ and orchestrated $435 million in debt financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), both long-standing backers of Horizon Capital's fund vehicles.
Under Horizon Capital's operational leadership since 2016, when the firm expanded control of Datagroup, the platform achieved substantial operational improvement. Over a five-year period, the company grew EBITDA by 4.8x and revenue by 3.8x, while simultaneously reducing leverage from 2.0x to 0x. The acquisition of Volia in 2021, funded by EBRD acquisition financing, marked an intermediate milestone in creating a converged telecom operator. The ultimate merger with Lifecell created a unified platform serving over 10 million mobile users and connecting 4 million households through fixed infrastructure.
Horizon Capital also received the 2025 Deal Innovation Award from the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA), an international organization representing over 300 private capital funds across 60 countries. GPCA commended the firm's vision and professional execution in managing the transaction's complexity, particularly its innovative approach to capital structuring and partnership architecture. The recognition underscores the transaction's significance as a statement of international investor confidence in Ukraine's post-conflict recovery trajectory and the viability of large-scale infrastructure investment during wartime conditions.
Go deeper than the headline
Research every firm in this story, track the ones that matter and get the daily briefing — free for 7 days.