Norway's Telenor completes acquisition of Bulgaria's second largest wireless operator

By bne IntelliNews August 1, 2013

Greece's OTE informed that the transfer of 100% of Globul, the second largest wireless operator in Bulgaria, to Norway's Telenor was successfully completed on July 31, following the approval of the transaction by the competent authorities.

OTE telecom group confirmed the sale price of EUR 717mn, informing that this is Globul's enterprise value, equal to 6x estimated 2013 EBITDA.

The transaction also includes Germanos Bulgaria - a telecom retailer operationally integrated with Globul. The deal was first announced back in April, when Telenor said it has acquired Globul from OTE for EUR 717mn on a cash and debt basis.

Latest data showed that Globul's Q1 revenue dropped 14.6% y/y to EUR 82.6mn. The telecom's service revenue decreased by 20.5% y/y and its EBITDA income shrank 22% y/y to EUR 26.3mn. In 2012, the operator's revenue fell 8.5% in 2012.

As of end-March 2013, Globul's customers base grew 4.5% to almost 4.6mn. Postpaid customers rose by 7% y/y and thus exceeded 2.8 million (63% of all clients). At the same time, its prepaid customers increased by 4.8%. 

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