Liberty Global, Inc., owners of UPC Slovenia, announced in mid-April its intentions to sell the Slovenian cable and broadband provider to an undisclosed buyer. An agreement has now been reached that paves the way for Mid Europa Partners to acquire 100% ownership of UPC Slovenia. No details of the sale have been made public, but possible estimates have put the deal between €130-150 million. The acquisition still must go through the normal regulatory approval process.
UPC Slovenia (www.upc.si)
UPC Slovenia, also known as UPC Telemach, is part of UPC Broadband; a group of ten companies providing cable and broadband services across Central and Eastern Europe. UPC Slovenia operates from the nation’s capital of Ljubljana and reaches subscribers in all of Slovenia’s major cities and their surrounding suburbs.
At the end of 2008 the company had 161,000 video subscribers, 56,000 broadband internet subscribers, and 25,000 telephony subscribers. UPC Slovenia offers five tiers of broadband internet service with download speeds ranging from 512 kbps to 20 mbps, several tiers of video and radio cable television service, and VoIP telephone service which was launched in 2007.
Mid Europa Partners (www.mideuropa.com)
Mid Europa Partners was established in 2005 by EMP Europe Ltd., the European arm of worldwide private equity firm EMP Global.
Investing primarily in Central and Eastern Europe, the company seeks opportunities with companies in sectors with high barriers to entry, having enterprise values between €100 million and €1.5 billion. Mid Europa Partners currently manages three funds; AIG Emerging Europe Infrastructure Fund LP, Emerging Europe Convergence Fund II LP, and Mid Europa Fund III LP. The three funds combine for a total of nearly €3.0 billion in assets under management by Mid Europa.
06/05/2009
Central & Eastern Europe, Internet, E-Commerce & E-Services, Investment, Private Equity News, Slovenia, Telecoms & Media