EPIC Services Ukraine (ESU) signed last Friday the sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition of 92.79% of Ukrtelecom for Hr10.575bn (E970m).
The closing is expected in 60 days. No details on the debt have been released.
Last December ESU was the…
EPIC Services Ukraine (ESU) signed last Friday the sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition of 92.79% of Ukrtelecom for Hr10.575bn (E970m).
The closing is expected in 60 days. No details on the debt have been released.
Last December ESU was the sole bidder for the stake, offering Hr10 above the minimum price of Hr10.5bn.
As there was only one bid, the authorities were legally obliged to hire an independent adviser to value the stake. After completing its review with the help of consulting firm Ostrov, the State Property Fund of Ukraine made a formal offer to Epic at Hr10.5751bn, Hr75.1m more than its bid, which Epic accepted.
According to reports, domestic investment banks argued the government could have generated up to US$1.8bn through a competitive sale.
EPIC managing partner Peter Goldscheider reportedly denied market suspicions that his company was acting as a front for domestic oligarchs.
In an interview with TelecomFinance last January, Goldscheider also denied speculation that Epic was fronting Russian companies or other international operators.
ESU, which was set up in 2005 by Austrian investment firm EPIC, provides construction and maintenance network services as well as warehousing and logistics. It says that its clients include Ukrtelecomk, Utel, MTS, Kyivstar, Beeline, Freshtel, Nokia Siemens Networks, Huawei and ZTE.
