January 30 (SeeNews) - US-based investment firm KKR on Tuesday refused to comment on Serbian media reports it will acquire the mobile operations of Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor in Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia and Hungary.
"KKR declines to comment on rumours or market speculation," a spokesperson for KKR said in an e-mailed response to a SeeNews enquiry.
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Belgrade-based Politika daily reported without quoting sources on Saturday that according to information that has been circulating for months KKR will be the buyer of Telenor's mobile operations in the region.
Telenor said on Friday it has received inbound and unsolicited interest for its Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) portfolio which comprises mobile operations in Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia and Hungary.
"With a view of creating shareholder value, Telenor has engaged in a process to evaluate the interest received. Telenor expects to conduct these assessments in the first quarter of 2018," the company noted.
Last week, Bulgarian media reported that Telenor is holding talks with an unnamed U.S.-based fund for the sale of its business in Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro for 2.0 billion euro ($2.48 billion).
KKR is the owner of Dutch-based United Group, a cable and pay TV operator in Southeast Europe (SEE), operating under the SBB and Telemach brands. Politika said last week that Serbia's competition regulator has launched a probe into SBB's alleged abuse of dominant position on the domestic cable TV market. SBB faces a fine equal up to 10% of its annual turnover if found abusing its dominant position, the daily reported.
In August, Telenor said it signed an agreement to sell 85% of its online banking unit in Serbia, Telenor Banka, to Bulgaria-based investment fund River Styxx Capital. Under the agreement, Telenor will keep a 15% stake in the capital of Telenor Banka.
On the Bulgarian mobile segment, Telenor competes with Mtel, the local unit of Telekom Austria, and Bulgarian telecommunications group BTC, which operates under the brand name Vivacom.
In Serbia, Telenor's wireless unit competes with Telekom Srbija's mobile arm, MTS, and VIP Mobile, a unit of Telekom Austria Group.
Telenor's main competitor in Montenegro is T-Mobile Crna Gora, owned by the Hungarian unit of Deutsche Telekom, Magyar Telekom. M:tel, the third mobile operator in the Adriatic state of some 630,000 people, is majority owned by Telekom Srbija.
($ = 0.804919 euro)