Bulgarian regulator clears Etisalat by e& buy of PPF telecom assets

The notified transaction will not significantly impact competition on the vertically related markets in Bulgaria, including the upstream market for the provision of wholesale international roaming services and voice termination services, as well as the downstream market for retail mobile telecommunications services, the Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) said in a statement.

The proposed deal will also not lead to horizontal overlap on any Bulgarian markets on which the e& and PPF groups operate.

The acquisition aligns with Etisalat by e&'s strategy to accelerate its international growth and diversify operations into new geographic regions while also opening the possibility for collaboration with PPF Group on future expansion opportunities.

Etisalat by e& booked a turnover of 282,201 levs ($155,368/144,287 euro) from its operations in Bulgaria in 2022, while PPF Group recorded a turnover of some 902.9 million levs.

In August, PPF Group agreed to divest a stake of 50% plus one share in its telecoms assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia to Etisalat by e& for up to 2.5 billion euro ($2.7 billion), including earnout. The target business served over 10 million clients in the four countries in 2022.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)