The fourth player on the cable TV market, FX Communications, formerly known as RomSat, will undergo a change of American shareholder soon.
The Competition Council has recently agreed to the takeover of this operator by the two major Romanian groups that call the shots on the domestic cable TV industry, RCS&RDS and Astral Telecom, which, although rivals, have teamed up for this deal.
The value of the transaction completed by the end of last year, after a long time of negotiations, was not revealed, yet market sources say it is $16-$18 million.
Half of the cable TV market is now controlled by three major players, RCS&RDS, Astral Telecom and UPC, while the other half is the realm of small players.
FX Communications was held by US-based Metromedia International Group, which has developed communications companies throughout Eastern Europe, Russia, some of the former Soviet republics and China. Metromedia sold FX' operations in the Republic of Moldova (Sun TV) separately last October.
This is the second major deal on the cable TV market of last year, after RCS&RDS bought operator TerraSat from businessman Ilie Stoichescu last spring.
Stoichescu got $4.5 million cash, a stake in RCS&RDS and a seat in the Board of Directors back then.
RCS&RDS and Astral Telecom agreed to join forces to buy FX Communications, as they wanted to boost their chances of competing against foreign offers, considering Metromedia had organised a kind of international auction. The bids for FX Communications were submitted in sealed envelopes. The RCS&RDS - Astral Telecom alliance is a first time for the consolidation on the domestic communications market and is due to the legislative changes that now allow for such partnerships.
FX Communications' cable TV operations will be almost equally divided between the new shareholders, Astral Telecom and RCS&RDS.
Since FX is an important ISP (broadband services inclusive) and owner of infrastructure, the two buyers will be splitting these operations, too, using about the same formula as for the cable TV business. FX was fourth on the cable TV market (4-5%), yet some analysts say it has the most advanced technology of all cable TV operators.
Even the two market leaders might find themselves up for sale in a couple of years, as they are held by foreign investment funds and business people.
EPIC (Austria) and Quadrant (US) hold 30% in RCS&RDS, while AIG New Europe Fund owns about 25% in Astral Telecom.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
