Private equity group to take over GTS Central Europe

Details: Category: Trends & Forecasts; 08 January 2008; 10335 views

Operating as a telecoms service provider in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, GTS Central Europe has been sufficiently independent to run its own regional fibre network... Operating as a telecoms service provider in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, GTS Central Europe has been sufficiently independent to run its own regional fibre network. Now GTS CE is to be taken over by a consortium of private interests.

A consortium of funds led by Columbia Capital, M/C Venture Partners and Innova Capital is set to take over one of Central Europe's most successful alterative telecoms service providers. GTS Central Europe, which has traditionally been focused primarily on business customers and which runs its own regional fibre network within five Central European countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia), has agreed to sell its entire share-holding to a grouping of private equity funds.

The acquiring funds are led by Columbia Capital, M/C Venture Partners and Innova Capital. The transaction itself is expected to close in 1Q08. GTS CE expects to achieve consolidated revenues of approximately $573 million and EBITDA of approximately $100 million in 2007.

Columbia Capital and M/C Venture Partners are both US-based groups focused on investing in the telecoms and IT sectors, while Innova Capital is a private equity group focused on Central Europe. Other members of the Consortium include Bessemer Venture Partners and selected private equity investors. Sole financial adviser to the consortium was ABN AMRO Corporate Finance; KBC Securities acted as sole financial advisor to the Seller.

* GTS CE is a multi-layered infrastructure-based provider of integrated telecoms solutions for countries lying between Frankfurt and Istanbul. As well as Central Europe, GTS provides service to customers in Ukraine, Latvia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia. The company has more than 1,500 employees.