Bulgarian telco Vivacom has attracted the interest of a large US company, according to Tsvetan Vasilev, the largest shareholder of Bulgaria’s now defunct Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB).
In an interview with Bulgaria’s Banker Weekly published by the…
Bulgarian telco Vivacom has attracted the interest of a large US company, according to Tsvetan Vasilev, the largest shareholder of Bulgaria’s now defunct Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB).
In an interview with Bulgaria’s Banker Weekly published by the Sofia News Agency, Vasilev said talks with the “renowned” US company are underway for the acquisition of shares in Vivacom, which is jointly owned by CCB and Russia’s VTB Capital.
He reportedly added that he would like to extract the maximum possible value from the telco to help cover CCB’s liabilities. CCB was taken over by the Bulgarian central bank last June and lost its banking licence a few months later.
Shortly before the bank was taken over, one local publication cited investors in London as saying CCB and VTB wanted to sell Vivacom shares in a quick deal based on debt restructuring. At the time, a source close to the Sofia-based telco dismissed the report as “totally incorrect”.
The two 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.