4iG has announced that following the completion of due diligence it has agreed to buy 100% of Hungary’s Digi and its subsidiaries from Digi Communications.
The transaction is valued at €625 million, equivalent to around HUF232 billion in local currency, and is expected to be completed in January 2022 subject to the approval of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH).
4iG notes that Digi, with a broad portfolio of services, ranks second in the Hungarian fixed voice, internet and TV market. The company provides high quality services anywhere in the country due to its state-of-the-art fibre to the home (FTTH) network, reinforced backbone and satellite infrastructure. Digi also has its own TV channels and, in addition to its sports channels, it is present in the TV broadcasting market with four thematic channels. Furthermore, Digi launched its mobile telecommunications service in Hungary in May 2019. Due to its continuous development projects, it has 2,300 owned base stations and the DIGIMobil service provides outdoor mobile coverage to more than 90% of the population across the country. Thanks to its advanced infrastructure, Digi has become the first Hungarian operator and one of the first in the region to launch the fastest residential internet service in Hungary, with a bandwidth of 10 Gbps.
It concludes by saying that the acquisition of Digi could be an important step in the creation of a national telecoms and telecoms infrastructure company by combining public and private capital, the platform company of which will be Antenna Hungária, according to the announcement made by the parties at the end of August. 4iG will transfer its telecoms interests to Antenna Hungária under the strategic agreement with the state, which will give 4iG a majority stake in the company. The merger will create a new regional telecommunications holding company, whose domestic interests (Antenna Hungária, Digi, Invitel, Invitech, AH Net) will be able to complement with another telecoms companies in the Western Balkans, due to the ongoing acquisitions.
Broadband TV News notes that the sale of Digi Hungary was first announced in March this year. This is also the first time the value of the transaction has been revealed.
