A source close to Bulgarian telco Vivacom has dismissed an earlier media report that the co-owners of the telco plan to sell shares to a financial investor within a couple of months.
Local publication Z Club cited investors in London as saying the…
A source close to Bulgarian telco Vivacom has dismissed an earlier media report that the co-owners of the telco plan to sell shares to a financial investor within a couple of months.
Local publication Z Club cited investors in London as saying the co-owners, Russian bank VTB and Bulgaria’s Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), want a quick deal based on debt restructuring. The report claims the prospectus is available exclusively to financial investors.
Speaking to TelecomFinance a source with knowledge of the matter described the report as “totally incorrect”.
A spokesperson for VTB Capital declined to comment. Sofia-based Vivacom and CCB were not immediately available for comment.
The banks completed their acquisition of Vivacom (formerly the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company) from creditors via holding company Viva Telecom Bulgaria in November 2012.
Viva paid €130m for a 93.99% stake, and a restructuring agreement with creditors saw it reduce the Bulgarian telco’s debt from €1.7bn to about €588m. The deal was financed with loans syndicated by RBS.
In 2013, Viva successfully completed a takeover bid for the remaining shares and the Bulgarian government agreed to convert its golden share into a common share. Vivacom was also delisted from the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
The Bulgarian operator reported revenues for Q1 2014 of Lv194.4m (US$134.7m), EBITDA of Lv85.4m (US$59.2m) and net debt of Lv747.2m (US$517.6m).
