PPF Telecom Group was reportedly considering selling its Telenor-branded operations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) after a little more than two years of ownership, with cost cutting mentioned as its primary motive.
Citing business development tool Mergermarket, Bulgarian newspaper Capital reported the group was looking to sell its assets in Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary.
The media outlet noted several suitors had expressed interest in purchasing the Bulgarian operations, including US-based investment company Providence Equity: it reportedly also made a bid for Vivacom in 2019, but lost out to Netherlands-based United Group.
PPF Telecom Group bought the four Telenor CEE assets in 2018 for €2.8 billion(US$3.31billion) and did not rebrand them.
The company last month split its CEE retail operations from its infrastructure, establishing CETIN Group to oversee the networks side. At the time it argued the split would deliver “greater opportunities across CEE”.
