July 19 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's competition regulator said on Thursday it has banned the acquisition of 100% of Bulgaria's Nova Broadcasting Group by PPF TMT Bidco 2, a unit of Czech-based investment group PPF.
PPF TMT Bidco 2 has 14 days to appeal the decision before the Supreme Administrative Court, the Commission for Protection of Competition said in its decision.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
In February, when the deal was announced, Nova Broadcasting Group's majority owner - Sweden-based entertainment company Modern Times Group (MTG) - said the transaction values 100% of Nova Broadcasting Group at 185 million euro ($214.0 million).
MTG entered Bulgaria in 2007 via the acquisition of Balkan Media Group Limited, which operated the Diema TV channels. In 2008, MTG bought Nova.
In Bulgaria, Nova Broadcasting Group's main rival is BTV Media Group, owned by Bermuda-registered Central European Media Enterprises.
PPF Group invests into multiple market segments such as banking and financial services, telecommunications, real estate and biotechnology. PPF Group's assets amounted to 35 billion euro as at June 30, 2017.
In March, Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor said it has agreed to sell its Central and Eastern European (CEE) assets to PPF for 2.8 billion euro on an enterprise value basis. The transaction includes Telenor's wholly-owned mobile operations in Hungary, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia.
($ = 0.8643 euro)