United Group announced that it has agreed to acquire Bulgarian telecom Vivacom. According to media it will be for a consideration of EUR 1.2bn, which puts EV/EBITDA transaction multiple at 6.5x.

United Group is a Netherlands-headquartered independent telecom and media provider operating in South Eastern Europe. It is owned by international investment firm BC Partners. United Group has published last week that it has agreed the to acquire Bulgarian telecom Vivacom. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020, after acquiring all needed regulatory approvals. According to media sources the consideration could reach EUR 1.2bn. The acquisition will be financed through a combination of new debt and cash on hand of United Group.

Vivacom provides mobile, fixed voice, fixed broadband services and pay-TV services on The Bulgarian market. The consolidated revenues of the company for 2018 have amounted to EUR 484.7m and adjusted EBITDA has reached EUR 184m. When we apply announced consideration to adjusted EBITDA of Vivacom we arrive at the EV/EBITDA transaction multiple of 6.5x.

As a reminder, United Group has in May 2019 acquired Croatian Tele 2 for an enterprise value of EUR 220m. You can read about it more on the following link.