Deutsche Telekom-owned Croatian telco Hrvatski Telekom and Zagrebacka Banka (ZABA) have signed an agreement with Telemach Hrvatska (priorly TELE2) owned by United Group on the sale and purchase of the shares of the Optima Telekom.
Under the deal, the South-eastern European service provider United Group will secure the 17.41% share currently held by HT and 36.90% owned by Zagrebacka Bank.
The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other agreed contractual conditions and is expected by the end of 2021.
Optima Telecom provides services to 125,000 broadband subscribers and 55,000 pay-TV customers. It is listed on the Zagreb stock exchange. After obtaining regulatory approvals, United Group will launch a tender offer for Optima’s outstanding stock.
United Group entered the Croatian market last year after acquiring Tele2’s business in the country.
United Group is spending €130 million on modernising Telemach Croatia’s mobile network to improve quality, expand coverage and offer a full 5G experience. It is also investing €100 million to build a state-of-the-art fibre optic network on which it is already offering Croatian customers fixed telephony and superfast broadband internet with speeds from 300 Mbps to 2 Gbps.
“This agreement is a step further in our plan to transform Telemach Croatia into a fully converged telecom operation offering the full range of telco services – including TV – on our own infrastructure,” said Telemach Croatia CEO Adrian Jezina.
