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Sat, May 26 2012
CME in 500 million euro deal to buy Bulgaria's bTV - report
The Central European Media Enterprises (CME) media company is close to finalising a 500 million euro deal to acquire Bulgaria's bTV, one of the country's largest private television stations, news agency Reuters said on January 26 2010. Currently, bTV is property of News Corp’s NWSA.
"The deal is about to be finalised, we're talking around 500 million," Reuters quoted a "reliable source" in Sofia as saying.
A bTV spokesperson confirmed that the company was flirting with potential buyers but refused to disclose further details about the deal.
"We have no information at this stage and I cannot comment," bTV's communications director Petya Terzieva was quoted as saying. "bTV has been talking to a number of companies and many show interest."
Romana Tomasova, corporate communications deputy manager at CME, also declined to give specifics of the deal, confirming that CME was considering several options in Bulgaria following the acquisition of an 80 per cent stake in two Bulgarian television stations for $172 million in July 2008.
"In Bulgaria we are evaluating several options," she told Reuters. "They may involve kinds of joint venture, merger, and acquisition or just keep developing the stations as they are."
CME is the owner of Bulgarian television channels Pro.Bg and Ring.Bg. According to a media statement, CME's net revenue for the third quarter of 2009 was $134.5 million, 33 per cent lower than in Q3 2008.
On December 18 2009 however, CME, which is also operational in seven countries in Eastern Europe, said it could sell the two channels it owns in Bulgaria, a company official said.
In an interview with Czech Business Weekly, published on December 17 and posted on CME's website, Petr Dvořák, general director of CME's Czech subsidiary TV Nova, said that CME was open to selling its business in Bulgaria.
"The situation in Bulgaria is that there are three main players on the market, and our conviction is that the market can handle only two. Therefore we are ready to merge with any of our competitors on fair conditions or alternatively sell our business there," Dvorak was quoted as saying.
If finalised, the bTV deal would be the third such major acquisition on the Bulgarian media market in the past two years, following the purchase of networks TV2 and Ring TV. Swedish Modern Times Group bought Nova TV for 620 million euro.
"The deal is about to be finalised, we're talking around 500 million," Reuters quoted a "reliable source" in Sofia as saying.
A bTV spokesperson confirmed that the company was flirting with potential buyers but refused to disclose further details about the deal.
"We have no information at this stage and I cannot comment," bTV's communications director Petya Terzieva was quoted as saying. "bTV has been talking to a number of companies and many show interest."
Romana Tomasova, corporate communications deputy manager at CME, also declined to give specifics of the deal, confirming that CME was considering several options in Bulgaria following the acquisition of an 80 per cent stake in two Bulgarian television stations for $172 million in July 2008.
"In Bulgaria we are evaluating several options," she told Reuters. "They may involve kinds of joint venture, merger, and acquisition or just keep developing the stations as they are."
CME is the owner of Bulgarian television channels Pro.Bg and Ring.Bg. According to a media statement, CME's net revenue for the third quarter of 2009 was $134.5 million, 33 per cent lower than in Q3 2008.
On December 18 2009 however, CME, which is also operational in seven countries in Eastern Europe, said it could sell the two channels it owns in Bulgaria, a company official said.
In an interview with Czech Business Weekly, published on December 17 and posted on CME's website, Petr Dvořák, general director of CME's Czech subsidiary TV Nova, said that CME was open to selling its business in Bulgaria.
"The situation in Bulgaria is that there are three main players on the market, and our conviction is that the market can handle only two. Therefore we are ready to merge with any of our competitors on fair conditions or alternatively sell our business there," Dvorak was quoted as saying.
If finalised, the bTV deal would be the third such major acquisition on the Bulgarian media market in the past two years, following the purchase of networks TV2 and Ring TV. Swedish Modern Times Group bought Nova TV for 620 million euro.
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Bulgaria's M&A market deteriorated in 2010
Raiffeisen Investment and Entrea Capital estimate the value of M&A deals in Bulgaria in 2010 at two billion euro ($2.7 billion), half the amount recorded for 2009, with 700 million euro of the total generated in the first 10 months of 2010.
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CME is the owner of the Bulgarian based PRO.BG and Ring.BG television channels.
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Time Warner has established a foothold on the Bulgarian market by buying into in Central European Media Enterprise, which owns TV2 and Ring TV channels
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Appointments
Employment Agency
Kamelia Lozanova has been appointed the executive director of the Employment Agency, a position she has held ad interim since September 2011, following the resignation of her predecessor Rossitsa Stelianova. Prior to that, Lozanova was the agency's deputy executive director in charge of international projects and European programmes. She has been with the agency for more than 20 years. Lozanova has a degree in Slavonic philology from the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia.
Uniqa
Gloria Dimitrova has been appointed executive director and member of the managing board at Uniqa Life Insurance Bulgaria. Dimitrova began her career in 1998 at the insurance supervision directorate, but moved to the private sector and worked for professional services and insurance brokerage firm Marsh&McLennan and US insurer AIG, both in Bulgaria and the Middle East. She joined Uniqa as regional director for Sofia in 2010. Dimitrova has a degree in economics from the University for National and World Economy in Sofia and a master's degree in insurance from the Business Academy in Svishtov.
Beiersdorf
Bedros Kalfayan, general manager of skin care and cosmetics company Beiersdorf Bulgaria, will oversee the parent's company units in Romania and Moldova starting April 1. Following company restructuring, Beiersdorf's subsidiaries in the three countries were merged and are now one unit, part of Beiersdorf Central and Eastern Europe. Kalfayan joined Beiersdorf in 2007 as sales manager and was promoted to general manager in 2008. Prior to that, he worked for Axxon Bulgaria, Ferrero and Rubella. Kalfayan has a master's degree in industrial management from the Technical University in Sofia.
Kamenitza
Yassen Lyubenov is the new head of marketing at Bulgarian beer brewer Kamenitza. Lyubenov has 12 years of experience in marketing in the fast-moving consumer goods sector and has started his career as assistant brand manager at Kraft Foods Bulgaria. He later became brand manager at Wrigley Bulgaria, with responsibilities for Bulgaria and Macedonia. Prior to joining Kamenitza, he was senior marketing manager at Wrigley Russia, where he was in charge of brand expansion into Ukraine, Belarus, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Lyubenov has a bachelor's degree in international business administration from the University of Lincoln, UK.
Hewlett-Packard
Sasha Bezuhanova has been appointed Hewlett-Packard public sector director for emerging markets, where she will oversee HP public sector activities in 63 countries, including Bulgaria. Bezuhanova will also be in charge of HP's relations with the European Union. Bezuhanova has been HP's public sector director for Central and Eastern Europe since 2008; before that she was general manager of HP Bulgaria since 1998. Bezuhanova has a master's degree in electronics from the Technical University in Sofia and has completed a managment programme at INSEAD.
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