May 23 (SeeNews) - Czech-based investment group PPF has filed for clearance by Bulgaria's competition regulator to acquire a 95% stake in Bulgaria's Nova Broadcasting Group from Sweden-based entertainment company Modern Times Group (MTG), according to a notice published on the regulator's website.
In February, when the deal was announced, MTG said the transaction values 100% of Nova Broadcasting Group at 185 million euro ($216.8 million).
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PPF intends to acquire Nova Broadcasting Group through its Dutch-registered unit PPF TMT Bidco 2, according to the notice, which was published on Tuesday.
The deal is not expected to affect competition on any segment of the Bulgarian market, except for the online retail segment, the notice reads.
Nova Broadcasting Group is the owner of Bulgarian online retailer Grabo Media, which operates the grabo.bg platform.
MTG entered Bulgaria in 2007 via the acquisition of Balkan Media Group Limited, which operated the Diema TV channels. In 2008, MTG bought Nova.
In Bulgaria, Nova Broadcasting Group's main rival is BTV Media Group, owned by Bermuda-registered Central European Media Enterprises.
PPF Group invests into multiple market segments such as banking and financial services, telecommunications, real estate and biotechnology. PPF Group's assets amounted to 35 billion euro as at June 30, 2017.
In March, Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor said it has agreed to sell its Central and Eastern European (CEE) assets to PPF for 2.8 billion euro on an enterprise value basis. The transaction includes Telenor's wholly-owned mobile operations in Hungary, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia.
($ = 0.8533 euro)