Private equity firm Mid Europa Partners has agreed to sell mobile operator Bite to Providence Equity Partners, amid a mini consolidation wave in the Baltics.
Private equity firm Mid Europa Partners has agreed to sell Baltic mobile operator Bite to Providence Equity Partners for an undisclosed price, the companies announced.
In a late December statement, they said the deal was expected to complete during Q1 2016.
Mid Europa Partners, which specialises in Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey, first received takeover interest for the asset in February 2014, with a view to securing a valuation of around 5.8x EBITDA.
Elsewhere in the region, Latvia’s Telekom Baltija has been approached, while TeliaSonera is seeking to consolidate its fixed and mobile assets in Lithuania and Latvia.
Bite comprises Lithuania’s number two player and Latvia’s number three cellco.
Goldman Sachs and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Mid Europa, whose in-house execution team comprised Michelle Capiod, Robert Chmelar, Ratko Jovic and Gyozo Lantos.
According to Capiod, “Bite has grown considerably under our ownership, while the group has invested significantly in nationwide roll-outs of 3G and LTE networks. Working in close partnership with management, we have built a highly resilient business.”
For his part, Bite CEO Frederick Hrenchuk commented: “With Mid Europa’s support we have developed Bite into one of the most dynamic, high quality and customer oriented mobile operators in Europe. We are grateful for their strong commitment to Bite’s long term strategy and look forward to further strengthening the business under the ownership of Providence.”
Karim Tabet, managing director at Providence, said: “Bite is an exceptional company and we are excited to partner with Frederick and the entire team. We bring with us our considerable experience supporting the growth of media and communications companies in other markets.”
According to Fitch Ratings, the planned sale would likely trigger a change of control clause in Bite’s senior secured floating rate notes due 2018 and revolving credit facility (RCF). The ratings agency said these would be respectively repurchased upon the completion of the sale and repaid.
