2021 has been a busy year for M&As in the electronic communication sector across Central and Eastern Europe.
Although companies such as United Group and Hungary’s 4iG have been in the thick of the action, so too have several others.
In Poland, for instance, Liberty Global entered into an agreement to sell its local UPC operation to Iliad’s Polish subsidiary for around €1.52 billion. The deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2022, will be another significant step in Liberty’s withdrawal from the region, leaving it with only a presence in Slovakia.
Also in Poland, Cellnex completed the acquisition of Cyfrowy Polsat’s subsidiary Polkomtel Infrastruktura in a deal worth €1.56 billion.
Meanwhile in Romania, Orange strengthened its presence in what is a highly competitive market by buying OTE’s stake in Telekom Romania’s fixed-line business for €268 million. In Latvia, Baltcom, one the country’s largest and longest established telcos, announced in late November that it had acquired the telecom group Microlines for an undisclosed fee.
Elsewhere, the most significant transaction in Ukraine saw Volia, the country’s leading cable operator, acquired by Datagroup. It will result in the creation of a leading provider of fixed-line services, with a footprint covering 4 million homes. Also of importance was the entry of Vodafone into Ukraine’s fixed-line market by buying the operators Farlep-Invest and Cable TV-Finance.
Mention should also be made of the change of ownership at the Slovak alternative telco Swan, which will shortly be wholly owned by DanubiaTel and a subsidiary, as well Telekom Srbija’s controversial acquisition of the cable operator Posta net and PPF Group’s sale of a 30% stake in the regional infrastructure provider CETIN Group to the global investment firm GIC.
For United Group, the M&A highlights of the year were largely focused on Bulgaria, where it completed the acquisition of the national commercial broadcaster Nova and several smaller operators, as well as Croatia, where it bought a majority stake in Optima Telekom.
4iG, on the other hand, started to flex its muscles as the year drew to close by acquiring both Digi’s operations in Hungary and ALBtelecom, one of the leading telcos in Albania.
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