UAE’s e& enters Central and East Europe, buys majority stake in PPF Telecom

UAE’s e& enters Central and East Europe, buys majority stake in PPF Telecom

e&, earlier known as Etisalat, on Tuesday said it acquired a controlling stake in PPF Telecom Group’s assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia.

The Abu Dhabi-listed firm said it bought a 50 per cent plus 1 share stake in the European company.

The acquisition will be under e& international, the telecom vertical of e& in global markets.

The perimeter will comprise of the Yettel Bulgaria, Yettel Hungary, Yettel Serbia, and O2 Slovakia operations, with more than 10 million subscribers and leading positions in their respective markets, as well as the CETIN and O2 Networks infrastructure businesses in these countries.

The upfront consideration for the acquisition is €2,150 million (Dh8.66 billion). The transaction is also subject to up to €350 million (Dh1.41 billion) in earn-out payments to PPF if the PPF Telecom assets exceed certain financial targets within the three-year period after closing and is subject to a clawback if such financial targets are not achieved.

The PPF Telecom’s infrastructure businesses in each of these four countries are fully carved out and managed independently of the service companies.

e& and PPF aim to realise significant scope for synergies between the two groups, with sizeable opex and capex savings and multiple opportunities for the roll-out of the