Telecommunications Takeover: United Group Sells SBB

SBB: Takeover of IKOM Expected by End-April

Southeast Europe’s leading telecommunications and media company United Group, which is majority owned by BC Partners, announced on Feb. 12 that it has made arrangements to sell SBB – Serbia’s main alternative provider of paid TV, broadband internet and landline telephone services – to the e& PFF Telecom Group.

United also agreed to sell Eon TV International Ltd. – NetTV Plus’s holding company – along with the rights to broadcast sports events in the Western Balkans (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) to the company Telekom Srbija a.d. Beograd.

On a whole, these transactions are worth EUR1.5 billion.

United Group will continue to own and operate its key media houses in Serbia, including N1 and Nova. These channels will remain available via SBB’s network and will also be offered to Yettel users.

The deals are subject to the usual regulatory approval and are expected to be finalized in the first half of 2025.