PRINT THIS PAGE

Advent International completes protracted buy-out of Bulgaria Telecom

Advent International has finally completed its protracted buy-out of Bulgaria Telecom from the government with the acquisition of a 65 per cent stake worth E230m.

The private equity firm and its financial partners have been working on the deal for well over a year but had to overcome a range of obstacles, competitive and legal, en route to their eventual success.

Chris Mruck, director of Advent International, said: 'This is a great day for all of us who have worked on this deal over two years. It is also a major step forward for Bulgaria Telecom. We can now, together, get on with the business of transforming the company into a competitive, commercial organisation and a great Bulgarian company.'

Advent's financial partners included the EBRD, the Dutch Development Bank, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Thor Bjorgolffson, Swiss Life Private Equity Partners, Enterprise Investors and the National Bank of Greece.

In addition to the acquisition price, Advent agreed to invest another E50m in the company and to implement a rolling E400m investment program. The two parties have also agreed a redundancy program.

Advent is one of the most active international private equity firms investing in Central and Eastern Europe. It also has a long record of making telecom investments, including ESAT Telecom in Ireland, Cesky Mobil in the Czech Republic, Connex in Romania, and ItalTel in Italy.

Copyright © 2004 AltAssets