Bulgarian telecoms operator Vivacom has been put up for sale with Lazards appointed as broker, according to a report on the Financial Times website. A source told the FT that Vivacom could be worth about EUR 1.2 billion. Spas Roussev, who owns 46 percent of VivaCom, confirmed that it is for sale, it added.
Meetings have been held with potential strategic and private equity buyers, said three sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Roussev said Vivacom was expected to have EBITDA of EUR 190 million this year.
The FT said that Vivacom could be valued at approximately EUR 1.2 billion, based on recent deals in the region, including PPF’s takeover of Telenor's eastern European telecoms businesses and United Group's acquisition of Tele2 in Croatia.
The consortium bought the business for EUR 330 million less than four years ago. VTB Capital, the UK arm of Russian bank VTB, owns almost 20 percent of Vivacom, as does Delta Capital International, the investment vehicle of Bulgaria’s ex-finance minister Milen Veltchev and his brother George.
The FT said it has seen a letter to Lazard from Empreno Ventures, an investment company controlled by Russian businessman Dmitry Kosarev. He bought a stake in the Luxembourg holding company that owned Vivacom prior to the 2015 auction. Kosarev has launched litigation against VTB Capital, Roussev and Veltchev. He argues that the auction was a "sham" and Vivacom was sold to the consortium at an artificially low price.
