KKR has agreed to sell the Balkans cable operator United Group to fellow private equity fund BC Partners. KKR will retain a "substantial minority stake" after the deal, it said. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, while sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the deal values United at around EUR 2.6 billion including debt.
United Group provides cable TV, fixed and mobile telephony, and broadband services in Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro under the SBB, Telemach and Total TV brands, as well as owning a number of pay-TV channels that broadcast to the wider region. Its networks pass around 1.8 million homes and it generates annual revenues of over EUR 500 million from 3.67 million RGUs.
Nikos Stathopoulos, Partner at BC Partners said: “United Group is a high-quality asset, with defensive growth characteristics, leading infrastructure, differentiated content and loyal customers. Its attractive and integrated business model and regional leadership position it well for further organic and acquisitive growth.”KKR acquired the company in 2014 from Mid Europa Partners, with the EBRD also investing, and has helped grow the business through investment in networks, content and new services as well as acquisitions. BC Partners has previously invested in the cable sector through Germany's Unitymedia, Sweden's Com Hem and Altice USA.
