One of the top cellphone companies in Czech property

The rights of the regional Telenor were sold for 2.8 million euros to a Czech purchaser, according to Forbes.hu. Telenor has sold its subsidiaries in Hungary to PPF Group, which is owned by the region’s most affluent Czech businessman, Petr Kellner.

A notable fact is that Hungarian magnate Lőrinc Mészáros was also competing for Telenor. Telenor Hungary’s estimated worth is 1.16 billion euros.

By purchasing the subsidiary, the buyer receives exclusive rights for all the company’s services in Hungary, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Serbia. They also receive Telenor Common Operation. Telenor’s subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe produce about 9 percent of Telenor Group’s full income, gaining about 1.2 billion euros in 2017 and covering more than 9 million customers.

As Telenor Group’s manager Sigve Brekke stated, the selling of Central and Eastern European subsidiaries is the part of centralisation of the group’s activities. They are planning to concentrate on Scandinavian telephone services and strong Asian cellphone services.

They also intend to pay 19 million Norwegian krones to their shareholders altogether in 2018, including the 8.10 krones per shares as share profit.

As vice financial manager of Telenor Group, Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup pointed out, the exceptional share profit is added to one of the highest ordinary share profits of all time. He also added that the company is concentrating on improving their enterprises and encouraging digital transformation.

PPF Group is currently one of the region’s greatest private investor groups managing about 35 billion euros worth of resources. The group is involved in a large variety of businesses, from banking through real estate and mining to communication. Concerning the latter branch of economy, they have already purchased O2 in the Czech Republic and Nova Broadcasting Group in Bulgaria.

PPF Group’s communication investor shareholder Ladislav Bartoníček highlighted that PPF Group’s communication portfolio is extended to four countries and it has become a medium-size communication service in Europe.

The paid transaction price is 6.4 times higher than the EBITDA.

Telenor Hungary’s chief manager Alexandra Reich emphasised that this purchase will not affect the company’s customers, everything will keep on going as usual. Telenor still promises the high-quality service to which its customers are used to.

The parties have agreed the purchasers will pay 400 million euros of the price within four years.

Telenor entered the Hungarian market in 1994 when they purchased Hungary’s second largest cellphone service company Pannon GSM. Then it spread to Montenegro and Serbia within 12 years. Finally, it set foot in Bulgaria in 2013.

Source: Forbes.hu