January 17 (SeeNews) - Albania's competition authority said it has approved the sale of 80.27% interest in Albtelecom held by Cetel Telecom, a subsidiary of Turkey’s diversified group Calik Holding, to Hungarian IT service management company 4iG.
The competition authority has endorsed the agreement for concentration in Albania's telecommunications market, it said in a statement last week.
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4iG said last month it signed a final agreement to buy the majority stake in Albtelecom and expects the transaction to close in January.
As part of the deal, Calik Holding will acquire a 3.2% stake in 4iG as an institutional investor. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.
After the transaction, Albania will continue to own a minority stake in Albtelecom through the ministry of finance and economy, which holds a stake of 13.78%, and the Albanian Post, which owns 2.47%, 4iG noted at the time. The remaining 3.48% stake is distributed among individuals, Albtelecom's website shows.
Established in 1912, Albtelecom is the largest provider of landline telecommunications services and the third largest mobile operator in Albania. Albtelecom generated revenues of 57.9 million euro ($65.6 million) and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of 17.4 million euro in 2020.
($ = 0.87593 euro)