Southeast Europe’s largest pay-TV provider SBB/Telemach has agreed to buy Slovenia’s third-biggest mobile operator Tusmobil for an undisclosed sum.
Telemach entered into an agreement to acquire the mobile operator from retail and telecoms group Tus…
Southeast Europe’s largest pay-TV provider SBB/Telemach has agreed to buy Slovenia’s third-biggest mobile operator Tusmobil for an undisclosed sum.
Telemach entered into an agreement to acquire the mobile operator from retail and telecoms group Tus Holding, owned by local businessman Mirko Tus, on 17 October.
According to local business daily Finance.si, Telemach paid about €150m (US$191.75m) for the asset.
Tusmobil claims to be the fastest-growing mobile player in Slovenia with nearly 300,000 customers. Its larger rivals are state-controlled Telekom Slovenije and Telekom Austria’s Si.mobil.
Telemach said the acquisition will enable it to offer quad play services. It plans to make significant investments to upgrade Tusmobil’s mobile infrastructure to support the new offering.
Telemach currently operates in six markets in Southeast Europe and has around 1.9 million cable and satellite TV, broadband, fixed and mobile customers.
The company is owned by United Group, the Netherlands-based media group which was formed in 2007 to bring together the various Balkan telecoms and media assets that private equity group Mid Europa Partners had acquired in quick succession.
United Group was subsequently acquired by another sponsor, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, for around €1bn (US$1.35bn) in October 2013.
Earlier this month, United Group was quoted by local media as saying it was looking at all assets for sale in Slovenia, including Tusmobil, Debitel, T-2 and smaller cable operators.
