United Group completes acquisition of Bulgaria’s Vivacom

South-eastern European broadband and pay TV provider United Group has completed the acquisition of Bulgaria’s Vivacom, following approval of the merger by the EC in April.

Vivacom has been the largest domestic operator in Bulgaria in terms of revenues for the last seven years. The company has 1.8 million customers to whom it provides a range of service including broadband, mobile communications and pay TV.

United Group, which has been owned by private equity outfit BC Partners since March 2018, agreed to acquire Bulgarian telecom operator Vivacom for a reported €1.2 billion, in November last year.

The acquisition follows United Group’s purchase of Tele 2 Croatia earlier this year, and comes ahead of its planned acquisition of Greece’s pay TV, telecom and Internet provider Forthnet.

“For Vivacom, joining the United Group family is a huge opportunity to accelerate the excellent results achieved so far in the Bulgarian market. We have built a strong brand, synonymous with quality and innovation, and a modern company with over 5,000 loyal employees across the country. It is the right time to take the next step and we look forward to working and sharing our collective experience with United Group to take our services in Bulgaria to the next level,” said Atanas Dobrev, CEO of Vivacom.

United Group CEO Victoriya Boklag, said: “Vivacom established its number one position in Bulgaria with excellent management, impressive financial results, technological advancements, and remarkable team collaboration. With a clear vision and strategy for the future, United Group has acquired another market leader in the region and our combined talent, experience, and scale means we can provide the newest generation telco services and best international and local content to the market of 27 million people in Southeast Europe and our diaspora across the world.”

Nikos Stathopoulos, Partner at BC Partners and chairman of United Group, said: “Acquiring Vivacom is an important milestone in driving the growth strategy of the United Group platform as we seek to expand our geographical presence in Europe. The Bulgarian telecoms sector is a dynamic part of a vibrant economy, which will give us a strong foothold in a key strategic market.”