Dutch-registered telecoms and media company United Group has announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Bulgaria’s largest multi-platform media company Nova Broadcasting Group from Advance Media Group.
The transaction, announced on December 24, is expected to close early in 2021 and is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Nova comprises of 10 TV channels including national Nova TV, the country’s largest online platform Net Info that reach on average 80 per cent of the Bulgarian population every month as well as four radio stations.
The statement quoted United Group CEO Victoriya Boklag as saying: “We’re very pleased with this agreement. We are buying a successful company from two prominent entrepreneurs with great prospects for further growth within United Group. The acquisition is in line with the overall strategy of United Group to own both telecom and media assets in the markets we serve.”
“Nova Broadcasting Group complements our existing media assets and I’m confident we’ll find many synergies between them, which gives us scale on each market to further invest in local content and quickly reach audiences,” Boklag said.
The investment marks the fourth large-scale transaction since BC Partners acquired United Group in March 2019, the statement said.
As The Sofia Globe reported at the time, United Group announced on July 31 2020 that it had closed a deal to buy Vivacom, one of Bulgaria’s three major telecom operators.
