The transaction does not represent a concentration as defined under existing laws and does not meet the turnover criteria for a review, the Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) said in a statement published on Tuesday.
According to existing antitrust legislation, transactions are subject to antitrust inquiry if the combined turnover of the participants exceeds 25 million levs ($13.8 million/12.8 million euro) and the total turnover of the target company is less than 3 million levs in the most recent financial year.
The regulator's decision may be appealed to the administrative court, including by third parties, within 14 days.
Bulsatcom agreed in November 2022 to sell certain mobile telecom infrastructure sites to United Towers Bulgaria, which is owned by United Group's division Slovenia Broadband. As part of a separate sale and leaseback agreement, telecoms operator Vivacom Bulgaria, also owned by Slovenia Broadband, will acquire equipment for deploying a fixed fibre telecoms network, which will be leased by Bulsatcom for a potential period of up to 10-15 years, according to information published in the CPC's statement.
Objections to the agreed transaction were submitted by A1 Bulgaria, A1 Towers Bulgaria, Yettel Bulgaria and its affiliate Cetin Bulgaria, as well as Bulsatcom founder Plamen Genchev, on the grounds that the transaction would lead to market distortion and a dominant position of Vivacom Bulgaria.
In March, Yettel Bulgaria asked the regulator to combine into a single investigation the deal notified by Slovenia Broadband and the now completed acquisition of Bulsatcom by Viva Corporate Bulgaria, due to a possible breach of competition legislation.
Since then, United Group has reached a deal to acquire indirect control over all of Bulsatcom. The group notified the transaction to the Bulgarian competition regulator last month.
Apart from Vivacom, United Group also owns TV and radio broadcaster Nova Group in Bulgaria along with other media and publishing businesses. In August, United sold over 4,800 mobile towers in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia to Saudi ICT infrastructure firm Tawal.
