Telekom Austria has emerged as one of the frontrunners to buy Serbia Broadband (SBB), which is currently backed by London-based Mid Europa Partners (MEP).
Quoting unnamed sources, Bloomberg reports that the telco is vying with a number of private equity firms including Providence Equity Partners, Cinven Advisers and Altice Finco to buy SBB, which could fetch up to €1 billion.
Telekom Austria already has a strong and growing presence in the CEE region, owning mobile operators in Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Slovenia.
Its assets include Croatia’s Vipnet, which operates the country’s leading cable operator and has a DTH platform.
SBB meanwhile is the leading cable operator in Serbia and also has a pan-regional DTH platform named Total TV.
Should it be acquired by Telekom Austria, the latter would probably have to sell new shares to fund the purchase.
The due diligence process analysing bids for SBB could take until the end of September.
