Com Hem buys Boxer for €144m

Swedish operator Com Hem has agreed to buy rival Swedish pay TV operator Boxer TV Access for an enterprise value of SEK 1.33 billion (€144 million).

Com Hem said the deal will help it to move into the single dwelling unit (SDU) market in Sweden with Boxer, the pay TV operator in the DTT network in Sweden, having roughly 500,000 subscribers that are predominantly in this market.

These customers will get access to fibre over the coming years, marking a “significant acceleration opportunity” for Com Hem, according to the company.

Com Hem has already started a “significant rollout” to fibre-based networks beyond the coax footprint and aims to add 800,000 SDU households via fibre over the coming years.

“The Com Hem SDU expansion programme is done by a combination of techniques including unbundling fibre, using third party open LAN networks and to a smaller extent building out Com Hem’s own fibre coax network,” said the company.

“Our ambition is that the SDU market will become the next major growth pillar for Com Hem turning the company into a true national operator in broadband- and TV-services.”

Com Hem said its SDU expansion programme will allow it to sell bundled broadband- and TV-services to its customer base, with the acquisition of Boxer representing a “highly attractive opportunity for Com Hem to accelerate its reach”.

Com Hem said the deal is expected to generate approximately SEK300m in additional underlying EBITDA for the Com Hem Group.

The acquisition is dependent on approval by the Swedish government and the Swedish Competition Authority and is expected to close in the second half of 2016.