Croatia's state competition agency (AZTN) approved United Group's acquisition of Nova TV broadcaster, AZTN said on its website on Tuesday.

The decision clears the way for the US investment fund KKR to take over the free-to-air network which has the highest viewership ratings in Croatia. United Group is also majority-owned by KKR since March 2014.

The AZTN’s ruling said in a press release that allowing the market concentration which would be created by the takeover, done by the Slovenia Broadband company owned by the KKR investment fund, would not threaten fair competition in Croatia’s media market, especially not by creating a new position or reinforcing the existing dominant position of the current actors in the media market.  

The decision was made after the state media regulator, the Agency for Electronic Media (AEM) ruled in late March that the acquisition would not result in an illegal concentration which would violate Croatia’s electronic media laws. The AEM is in charge of safeguarding pluralism and diversity in the electronic media, and monitoring the implementation of the media law.

The decisions clear the way for the announced takeover of Nova TV, which will complete KKR’s acquisition of media operations in Croatia and Slovenia held by the CME corporation, in a deal worth €230 million. 

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