May 14 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian telecommunications group BTC said on Thursday that the country's anti-trust authority allowed it to acquire 100% of the local retail outlets of telecoms services and products company 2be, thus doubling the size of its store network in the country.
The Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has approved the acquisition, BTC said in a statement.
BTC signed last month the acquisition agreement with 2be owner Kimimpex Turgoviya i Lizing. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
BTC will now start a process of integration of the two companies, including rebranding, as well as merger of the 2be network with the BTC network of shops. The process is expected to be completed by the end of this year, BTC said in the statement.
2be has 112 outlets in Bulgaria. In September it said it had 13 stores in Macedoania and planned to increase their number to 25 by the end of 2008. 2be has also announced plans to expand to Romania.
BTC, majority-owned by AIG Global Investment Group, has a 97% share on the domestic fixed-line segment while its wireless unit, Vivatel, controls some 12% of the mobile segment.
2be's main competitors on the local market are Greek-owned Germanos, France's Avenir Telecom local unit Da, Da, and local companies Jeff and Handy.
Shares in BTC last traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange on April 27 at 4.97 levs ($3.45/2.54 euro), up by 24.25% from the previous close on April 15.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)