Turkcell Undecided about Bidding for Bulgaria's Globul

Business | June 26, 2012, Tuesday // 13:31|  views

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Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TCELL), Turkey's largest mobile-phone company, said it has made no decision on bidding for Globul, the Bulgarian mobile-phone unit of Athens-based Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA. (HTO)

Turkcell continues work on evaluating acquisition opportunities in countries near its home market, the company said in an e-mailed statement, as cited by Bloomberg.

Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), Turkcell and Orange SA, controlled by France Telecom SA (FTE), may be among the potential buyers of Globul, Capital newspaper reported, without citing anyone.

Hellenic Telecommunications hired Citigroup Inc. (C) as adviser.

Globul has 4.3 million subscribers and had EUR 413 M of revenue in 2011, Tera Stock Brokers, based in Istanbul, said in an e-mailed note.

An auction to sell 94% of Bulgaria's largest fixed-line company Vivacom, in which Turkcell also bid, failed in early May 2012 as sellers canceled the process.

Turkcell's shareholders include TeliaSonera AB (TLSN), Altimo of Russia and Cukurova Holding AS of Turkey.

Greek telecommunication group Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, known as OTE, is selling its unit in Bulgaria, the company formally announced on June 22, 2012.

The revenues from the sale of Globul, Bulgaria's second-biggest mobile operator, are to help OTE pay its obligations on bonds maturing in the next two years, according to the OTE's press office.

Turkish Turkcell, British Vodafone and Orange (owned by France Telekom) have been listed as potential buyers.

Deutsche Telekom, which controls a 40% stake in OTE, will also have a say in the sale, as will the new Greek government, which still owns the "golden share" in OTE giving it the right to take part in all key decisions.

Globul is the trademark under which Cosmo Bulgaria Mobile EAD offers mobile telecommunications services in Bulgaria.

The company is 100% owned by Cosmote, OTE's mobile phone arm.

Globul total revenues declined by 0.8% in the last quarter of 2011, compared to the same period last year, as the strong performance on handsets sales could not fully compensate for the lower service revenues.

Total revenues for 2011 reached EUR 412.5 M, 2.6% lower than in 2010.

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Tags: Globul, telecom, telecoms, telecommunications, Telecommunications Company, mobile phone operator, mobile operators, mobile operator, Vivacom, M-Tel, OTE, Turkcell

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