Telekom Austria Group’s Croatian unit Vipnet has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Croatian telecom company Metronet Telekomunikacije for an undisclosed sum, the Austrian telecoms giant announced on December 8.

Telekom Austria has been eyeing expansion opportunities in the CEE region since Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim bought a majority stake in the company in 2014. Recently, the Austria-based group announced on November 30 that it had agreed to acquire 100% of the shares in Belarusian fixed-line operator Atlant Telecom and its subsidiary TeleSet.

Metronet is a leading alternative fixed business solutions provider in Croatia. The company offers data, voice, managed IT and cloud services to its approximately 4,300 corporate customers, who generated approximately 90% of total revenues in 2015. The company is present in 66 cities, thereby reaching approximately 85% of all corporate customers in Croatia and operates on a fibre network. In 2015, Metronet generated revenues and an Ebitda of approximately €28mn and €12mn respectively.

Telekom Austria Group will finance the transaction via its existing cash flow and it plans to complete the acquisition by the first quarter of next year. The deal is subject to the required approvals from related authorities.

The sellers comprise Croatian corporations, financial institutions and private individuals, including Quaestus Private Equity Fund, Telekom Austria also said.

Telekom Austria has been offering convergent services in the Adriatic country since 2011. 

Telekom Austria’s Croatian Vipnet competes with Croatia’s biggest telecommunications company T-Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT), which is 51%-owned by Deutsche Telekom, and Tele2 Croatia, majority-owned by Swedish telecom company Tele2.