Building tomorrow’s European telecom leaders
With the acquisition of Telenor CEE and its leading mobile operations in Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, PPF Group who already owns O2 Czech Republic and CETIN, is taking a step further in the telecom world.
With the acquisition of Telenor CEE and its leading mobile operations in Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, PPF Group who already owns O2 Czech Republic and CETIN, is taking a step further in the telecom world.
PPF Group, the largest private investment group in CEE, undertook recently the acquisition of Telenor’s telecommunications assets in Central and Eastern Europe. Telenor CEE serves 9 million customers and employs over 3,500 people in Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro where the group has leading positions.
This acquisition represents the largest telecom M&A transaction in the CEE region since 2013 and enables PPF to create a unique TMT platform with a strong financial flexibility and firepower.
The completion of such EUR 2.8bn transaction, expected to close this summer, will bring PPF to the next level: by consolidating the TMT sector in the CEE region, PPF is becoming one of the four major Telecom players present in the region.
With this purchase, PPF Group is expanding its telecommunications portfolio to four more countries, and fulfilling our long-held goal to become a mid-sized European operator and to use our experience to strengthen our market position,
PPF Group’s shareholder responsible for telecommunications assets within PPF
PPF Group’s TMT platform started with the acquisition of the Czech telecom incumbent, O2 Czech Republic in 2013, and its subsequent transformation leading to the creation of CETIN in 2015, who owns and operates the largest telecommunications network in the Czech Republic.
Societe Generale acted as Financial Advisor to PPF Group and as Global Coordinator and Underwriter of the €3.025bn related debt package. This strategic and highly visible jumbo transaction is a further testimony of Societe Generale's and its Czech subsidiary Komerční Banka’s fruitful cooperation with PPF Group.
With this strategic acquisition, PPF is becoming one of the leading telecom players in the region. We are proud to have contributed to the development of their telecom investments, putting our expertise in support to their deal-making skills and strategic vision,
Chairman of the Board and CEO of Komerční banka