Mid Europa Announces Plans to Invest €45m in Bugarian TV Market

Mid Europa Partners, the independent CEE private equity firm formed by EMP Europe, is ramping up its expansion efforts in the Bulgarian television market. Having acquired Interaktivni Tehnologii AD (ITV) late last year for an undisclosed sum, Mid Europa has committed to investing €45 million in Bulgaria, which includes the amount payed for ITV. The company re-branded ITV as Total TV and currently controls 15% of the regional market. The new investment in Bulgaria is aimed at increasing that market share to as much as 30% while also paying down the DHT company’s debt.

Total TV has spent the last several years developing its DTH platform and getting it into the hands of its customers. The company’s services have expanded into a regional enterprise reaching subscribers in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. In Bulgaria, which is currently under-served in the satellite TV market, the company launched a dedicated satellite to carry its signal as it competes with main rival Bulsatcom.

Total TV / ITV Partner (www.itvpartner.com)
ITV Partner is a digital satellite TV provider founded in 2004 by Interactive Technologies PLC, a Bulgarian IT and technology company. Originally providing service to the capital city of Sofia, ITV has expanded to service major cities and towns throughout the country and now claims 80,000 subscribers. The company offers standard satellite TV channels as well as Pay-Per-View (PPV), Interactive Pay-Per-View (IPPV), and radio broadcast content to its customers.

ITV Partner is the industry leader in the underdeveloped Bulgarian satellite TV market, having developed and deployed a dedicated satellite named Teleport Sofit equipped with state-of-the-art technology to broadcast its digital signal.

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.