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PPF Group has increased its stake in the operator to over 90% and will now use special powers to purchase the remaining equity and take the company off the public market
Back in 2013, Telefonica sold 66% of its stake in O2 Czech Republic to Czech investment fund PPF for around €2.47 billion.
Since that time, PPF has slowly been increasing its stake in the company, until today announcing in a press release that they had increased their share from 83.58% to 90.01%.
As part of the announcement, PPF said that it will now begin proceedings to forcibly purchase the remaining 9.99% equity in the business and take remove the business from the Prague Stock Exchange.
“As the more than 90% holder in the share capital of O2 CR, PPF announces its intention to initiate a squeeze-out procedure of the remaining holders in O2 CR through a mandatory tender offer for the shares in the telecommunications operator held by these remaining minority shareholders," said PPF in a statement.
O2 Czech Republic is the fourth largest company in Czechia, serving around 6 million customers in a country with a population of around 10.7 million. O2 Czech Republic also operates in Slovakia.
PPF currently owns around €40 billion in assets across Europe and Asia, with a growing telecom business in central and eastern Europe. The company was controlled by billionaire and Czechia’s richest man, Petr Kellner, until his unexpected death in a helicopter crash earlier this year. The Group is now being run by Kellner’s long-term business partner, Ladislav Bartonice.
Back in February, it was reported that PPF had approached various banks to explore the possibility of launching an initial public offering for Cetin, the largest data and communications network in the Czech Republic, which was spun off from O2 Czech Republic back in 2015.
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