Three investment companies in the race for United Group – Procedure expected to be finalized in September

The sale of United Group, which includes TV N1, is entering its final stage. The American investment company KKR, which includes former CIA Director David Petraeus, has been having negotiations about the sale of its daughter company with interested purchasers for a long time now. The entire procedure is expected to be finalized in September, and it is being run by Credit Swiss.

In early August, Reuters reported that European investment companies Cinven and BC Partners were interested in acquiring the company. This is not the first time that Cinven is trying to buy United Group, as it was one of the more serious competitors to KKR back in 2013. The seller at the time was another investment company, Mid Europa Partners, which later bought Dunav Hrana Grupa in Serbia, which was later renamed as Moji Brendovi.

These days, BIRN has reported that the Czech PPF Group was one the most serious candidates for the acquisition of this company. The company has recently acquired Telenor in Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary and Bulgaria. As we've learned, PPF has already changed the local management in Serbia and Sasa Filipovic was named the new director in early August. According to our findings, this is only a temporary solution, as new management is expected to be appointed by the end of the month.

It has been said that PPF Group is ready to pay EUR 3 billion for this transaction, and the debts of United Group amount to as much as EUR 1 billion.

SBB also operates within United Group, and it has been announced recently that this company will also become the owner of the marketing agency Direct Media and acquire TV Pink B&H and TV Pink Montenegro through this marketing company. United Group recently submitted the request for the authorization of the purchase of a 100% stake in Direct Media in the markets of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania to the Commission for Protection of Competition, which pointed out for Politika that the case was still being processed.

Direct Media, whose ownership is hidden behind a range of offshore companies, used to belong to former mayor of Belgrade Dragan Djilas. This company has been the regional leader in the market of media and communication agencies for nearly two decades.

United Group was formed in 2007 through a merger of SBB, Telemah Slovenia and Telemah Bosnia. The company is registered in the offshore zone in Luxembourg. Through its daughter company in Serbia, KKR also owns Total TV, Grand Produkcija, Sport Klub, Cinemania and Ultra. The Commission for Protection of Competition has recently authorized the takeover of Srpska Naucna Televizija by United Group. The transaction was worth only EUR 25,000.

Several months ago, KKR announced considerable investments through its daughter company in this part of the region. KKR representatives met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in April and announced that they would invest EUR 293 million in Serbia over the next five years.

As KKR announced at the time, as many as 2.9 million residents of Serbia currently use the services of United Group. The companies operating under this company employ 1,881 people. The group has built or rented a total of around 15,800 kilometers of the optical network, crucial to the development of business in Serbia. In its several years of operation, they've paid around RSD 4 billion to the state in taxes.

As KKR announced, EUR 264 million has been invested in Serbia since this investment company bought United Group.

UG. UNITED GROUP INC Beograd

United Grupa BROADBAND INVESTMENT S.à r.l.

Credit Suisse - Credit Swiss

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts

Cinven Partners LLP

Mid Europa Partners LLP London

PPF Group N.V. Netherlands

SBB d.o.o. Beograd

Direct media a.d. Beograd

Komisija za zaštitu konkurencije Srbije

TELEMACH d.o.o. Ljubljana

NOVA BH d.o.o. Sarajevo

PINK M COMPANY PODGORICA

Telemach BH d.o.o. Sarajevo

Srpska naučna televizija

TV N1

BC Partners LLP

TOTAL TV Offline d.o.o. Beograd

Grand Production Beograd

CINEMANIA DOO

United group

Credit Swiss

sale of United group

David Patraeus

KKR

Cinven

BC partners

Mid Europa Partners

PPF group

Sasa Filipovic

SBB

Direct media

Commission for Protection of Competition

Pink B&H

Pink Montenegro

Telemah Slovenia

Telemah Bosnia

Total TV

Grand produkcija

Sport klub

Cinemania

Ultra

Srpska naucna televizija

N1

investments of United group in Serbia