United Group has been steadily building up its presence in Bulgaria since 2020 and is now one of the country’s leading providers of electronic communications services.
If its recently announced acquisition of Bulsatcom receives regulatory approval, it will become a dominant player in the pay-TV sector, accounting for around 60% of subscribers.
BC Partners-owned United Group entered Bulgaria with the acquisition of the incumbent telco Vivacom (BTC) during a period of rapid expansion when it also bought assets in Croatia (Tele2) and Greece (Forthnet). Shortly afterwards it also secured Nova Group, one of Bulgaria’s two leading commercial broadcasters, as well as a number of smaller interests including the local TV and internet operators Net1 and ComNet.
While the acquisitions of Vivacom and Nova Group aroused little controversy, heralding the arrival of another major foreign investor in Bulgaria – CME, now owned by PPF Group, and A1 were already well established – Bulsatcom will almost certainly be another proposition. Indeed, a year ago the Bulgarian entrepreneur Spas Rusev bought Bulsatcom for a reported €120-130 million, having beaten off competition from PPF Group. He did so with a loan from United Group and had connections with the latter, having previously been a shareholder in Vivacom. Not long afterwards United Group acquired Bulsatcom’s mobile towers for €3 million set off the loan.
In March this year PPF Group’s Yettel Bulgaria called on the regulator CPC to stop the sale of Bulsatcom’s key assets to United Group. Four months latter both PPF Group’s PPF Telecom and A1 Group and its Bulgarian subsidiary strongly criticised CPC’s decision to authorise Vivacom’s acquisition of Networks-Bulgaria and several smaller operators on the grounds that it would lead to market concentration.
The scene is now set for even more confrontation, with both PPF Group and A1 likely to strongly oppose United Group’s acquisition of Bulsatcom on the grounds that it will seriously limit competition and customer choice. However, their appeals to the CPC, as has previously been the case, may well fall on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, for United Group the acquisition of Bulsatcom will be “another important stage” of its “activity in Bulgaria, a key market for our growth strategy”.
The company also reaffirms its “commitment to offer Bulgarian consumers the best quality products and services and will continue to invest in infrastructure, technology and content”.
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