February 15 (SeeNews) - The intended acquisition of at least 51% interest in Bulgaria's Telelink Business Services Group (TBS Group) [BSE:TBS] by Luxembourg-registered Slovenia Broadband, part of Dutch-based multi-play and media provider United Group, fell through, the target company said.
"Considering the serious potential of United Group as a partner with broad financial and business capacity and similar territorial interests in the Balkan region, the management of TBS Group approved the disclosure of information for the purposes of due diligence - a process completed successfully by the beginning of 2022. [...] In spite of the positive conclusions with regard to the two companies’ potential for combining and complementing each other in a beneficial way, the talks revealed diverging strategic views on some key areas of business development and growth," Ivan Zhitiyanov, CEO of TBS Group, said in a statement published late on Monday.
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The parties agreed to terminate consultations about the potential acquisition, Zhitiyanov added.
The subsidiaries of TBS Group and United Group remain long-standing business partners and the talks between the companies will allow them to work together even better in the future, the CEO noted.
Zhitiyanov also said that he continues to share the view that teaming up with a strategic investor could boost substantially TBS Group’s potential, without being a target per se and at all cost. "Therefore, I maintain my solidarity with the readiness of the selling shareholders to offer a majority stake in case of further strategic interest matching our goals," he said.
In November, TBS Group said that Slovenia Broadband has sent a letter of intent to acquire a stake of at least 51% in its share capital.
TBS Group said earlier that its shareholders Lyubomir Minchev, Ivo Evgeniev and Spas Shopov were ready to offer for sale on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) a combined stake of more than 50% at the beginning of 2022.
As at 11:06 CET on Tuesday, shares in TBS Group traded 0.67% lower at 14.90 levs ($8.64/7.62 euro) on the BSE.
TBS Group was spun off from local company Telelink Bulgaria in 2019, becoming the sole owner of IT infrastructure, information security and digital transformation solutions provider Telelink Business Services and several other units of Telelink engaged in similar activities.
At the beginning of 2021, United Group completed the acquisition of Bulgarian multi-platform media company Nova Broadcasting Group in line with its strategy to own both telecommunications and media assets in the markets it serves. In 2020, United Group bought Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) which operates under the Vivacom brand. The group is also present in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Greece.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)