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Turkcell ‘may bid’ for Bulgaria’s Vivacom
05 March 2012
Turkcell board to discuss bid, which may value Bulgarian operator at as much as $1.4 billion
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Turkcell
Bulgaria
Vivacom
BTC
PineBridge
Morgan Stanley
Turkey’s Turkcell may bid for Bulgarian operator Vivacom, with an offer that values the company at up to $1.4 billion.
Turkcell informed the Istanbul Stock Exchange that it was assessing possible foreign investments, including a bid for Vivacom, but the board had not decided on any bids so far.
Another bid for the troubled Bulgarian incumbent, formerly BTC, may come from VTB Capital, whose CEO, Atanas Bostandjiev, told Bloomberg the investment banking unit was considering acquiring Vivacom jointly with the Corporate Commercial Bank.
According to local reports, Thor Bjorgolfsson, former controller of Vivacom, has bid for the company together with Greek businessman Panos Germanos, while Pamplona Capital Management is also among the bidders.
Quad-play operator Vivacom — majority owned by private equity investor PineBridge — was put up for sale after it breached terms on €1.6 billion of loans in 2011. Morgan Stanley is said to be advising Vivacom creditors on the sale of the company, although a bank spokesman declined to comment. GTB
Further reading from Global Telecoms Business:
Telekom Austria 'will not bid' for Vivacom 20 Feb 2012
Bulgarian operator BTC up for sale 07 Nov 2011
Bulgaria's Vivacom in talks about €1.5bn debt 14 Jun 2010
Bulgaria's Vivacom picks Alcatel-Lucent 17 Feb 2010