United Group, the largest media and telecommunication provider in Southeast Europe, has reached a deal on purchasing Tele2 Croatia for €220 million, and it is expected the transaction, currently in the process of acquiring a permit from the regulator, will be finished before the end of this year.

This is one of the largest acquisitions in Southeast Europe ever, and the first since the BC Partners, a London-based international investment firm, became majority owner of the United Group in March 2019.

“Croatia is a very attractive and important market to us … we are glad about the acquisition of Tele2 Croatia because it will enable us to further spread the Group’s business into the EU countries and improve the telecommunication services we provide,” said Victoriya Boklag, the United Group CEO. 

“We have excellent results in the integration of the mobile business in the region following the acquisition of Tusmobile in Slovenia, and we are excited with new possibilities which come with Tele2 in Croatia,” she added.

Nikos Stathopoulos, a partner at BC Partners, said that “when we invested in United Group we identified its business model, technology, and the regional leadership as the crucial initiators of the organic growth, increased by the ability to purchase and integrate local companies.”

“We are glad that we got yet another local dynamic player with Tele2 Croatia with a respectable consumers base, which enables us to widen the services we provide and their coverage across Europe.”

Headquartered in Amsterdam, the United Group is a leading independent provider of media and communication services across Southeast Europe. It was established in 2000 and currently operates in six countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia), employing more than 4,400 people and offering servicese to more than 1.8 million households.