4iG has signed an agreement with the Hungarian state on the closing conditions of its acquisition of a majority stake in Antenna Hungária (AH), first announced last August.
As a first step, it will acquire a majority (71.6%) stake in AH through a capital increase of HUF402 billion (€1.127 billion) by contributing its shareholdings in Digi Group, Telenor Crna Gora and Invitel. The transaction will create one of the leading telecom groups in Hungary and the Central and Eastern European region.
4iG will be able to increase its stake in AH to a maximum of 80% by further contributing companies in line with its telecom profile. As a result of the current transaction, the Hungarian state will retain
28.4% of the group.
Commenting on the transaction, Andrea Mager, minister without portfolio for National Asset Management, said: “under this agreement, a strategic telecommunications and telecommunications infrastructure services company will be created, combining public and private capital, which will represent domestic interests in the industry providing competitive market services”.
Gellért Jászai, chairman-CEO of 4iG, added: “The strategic partnership between the Hungarian state and 4iG will create a new player in the telecommunications market that – thanks to its size, infrastructure and wide range of business and retail services – will be able to compete successfully with multinational corporations. We are creating a telco company dominant not only in Hungary but in the region as well.
“We are facing an exciting period as we are integrating the telecoms portfolio of the companies, and meanwhile we are completing our ongoing acquisitions and launching new brands and services in the retail and business services segments, in line with our strategy”.
As a pre-condition for the transaction, the parties relied on the appraisal of PwC Hungary to determine the contribution value of AH and that of the companies involved in the capital increase.
The transaction is expected to close by mid-March.
