Telekom Austria and several private equity firms are reportedly eyeing cableco Serbia Broadband (SBB), valued at approximately €1bn (US$1.3bn).
The Austrian incumbent is taking another look at SBB, after disappearing from a shortlist of companies…
Telekom Austria and several private equity firms are reportedly eyeing cableco Serbia Broadband (SBB), valued at approximately €1bn (US$1.3bn).
The Austrian incumbent is taking another look at SBB, after disappearing from a shortlist of companies completing due diligence on the cableco, two people familiar with the Vienna-based telco’s plans told Bloomberg.
Rival suitors include private equity firms Providence Equity Partners, Cinven Advisers and Altice Finco, the report cited six unnamed sources as saying. SBB could reportedly command up to 10 times its EBITDA.
Belgrade-based SBB’s majority shareholder, UK private equity firm Mid Europa Partners, has put the asset up for sale. The due diligence process may stretch until the end of September, the report cited one source as saying. However, another source said Altice intends to submit its bid in October.
Telekom Austria, Providence, Cinven and Altice declined to comment on the report, while SBB and Mid Europa were not immediately available.
Telekom Austria CEO Hannes Ametsreiter affirmed to an Austrian newspaper in mid-July that SBB and H1 Telecom in Croatia are of interest to the company, adding that his company would certainly be interested in the SBB sales process.
Asked how such deals would be financed, Ametsreiter said small acquisitions could be paid for in cash, but larger ones would require “greater thought”. He did not rule out a capital increase, but said there is not one on the current agenda. Ametsreiter also outlined his company’s ambitious expansion plans, saying he thinks it has the opportunity to become the largest, most integrated operator in southeast Europe.
Telekom Austria, in which the Austrian state and Carlos Slim’s America Movil (AMX) are the largest shareholders, adopted a convergence strategy in 2009 which has seen it acquire several cable and satellite companies.
Last week, Telekom Austria announced that it had entered into a wholesale partnership agreement with Dutch telco KPN, in which AMX is the largest shareholder, saying it had created one of Europe’s largest fibre networks. The deal has seen the operators combine their backbone networks, more than doubling their combined fibre footprint.
Telekom Austria currently has foreign mobile operations in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Belarus.
