Telekom Austria (TA) has acquired Macedonian cableco Blizoo as part of its convergence strategy.
The Austrian incumbent will fund the acquisition from Swedish private equity firm EQT from its existing cash flow, but has agreed not to disclose the price…
Telekom Austria (TA) has acquired Macedonian cableco Blizoo as part of its convergence strategy.
The Austrian incumbent will fund the acquisition from Swedish private equity firm EQT from its existing cash flow, but has agreed not to disclose the price tag.
The acquisition, subject to merger control clearance, will enable TA’s local mobile unit, Vip, to offer bundled fixed and mobile services, complementing the group’s converged offerings in Austria, Bulgaria and Croatia.
Blizoo has 63,000 subscribers, 47,000 of whom are broadband customers. The company generated revenues of about €10m in 2013.
TA CEO Hannes Ametsreiter said the takeover “allows us to offer the full scale of telecommunications services in the fourth country within our group, and is a step forward in the execution of our successful convergence strategy”.
Vienna-listed TA has about 23 million customers across its markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Vip is Macedonia’s second largest mobile operator after Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile. The smallest is Telekom Slovenije’s One.
TA is currently subject to a takeover offer from Carlos Slim’s America Movil, which recently agreed to pool shares in the telco with Austrian state holding company OeIAG. The tender period for the €7.15 per share offer ends on 10 July.
AMX CFO Carlos Garcia Moreno has said he expects EU regulatory changes to support consolidation in the telecoms sector, creating opportunities for TA to grow and make acquisitions. The Austria telco is particularly in need of fixed-line assets outside its home market, he noted.
