GIC Buys Large Stake in CETIN from PPF Group
Posted on 10/18/2021
Singaporean sovereign wealth thirsts for digital infrastructure in developing markets. Singapore’s GIC Private Limited is buying a 30% stake in CETIN Group (CETIN a.s.) from PPF Group N.V. PPF will retain majority 70% ownership of CETIN Group, a telecommunications infrastructure provider operating across Central and Eastern Europe. PPF and GIC have agreed that the new minority shareholder in CETIN will have appropriate representation on the company’s board of directors. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. The parties have agreed not to disclose the transactions’ financial details. Deal estimates range that CETIN could be valued between 5 billion euros to 6.7 billion euros. CETIN is largest telecom infrastructure provider in the Czech market and second largest in the Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Serbian markets.
“When we entered the telecommunications sector almost eight years ago, we said that PPF wanted to offer state-of-the-art services to the European market. We are proud to partner with GIC, a major and respected international investor renowned for its unparalleled ability to identify value in stable assets capable of generating solid long-term returns,” says PPF Group shareholder and CEO Ladislav Bartoníček said in the press release.
CETIN was known as Česká telekomunikační infrastruktura. CETIN was created as a result of the separation of O2 Czech Republic a.s. into two companies in June 2015. PPF Group decided to take out CETIN’s remaining minority shareholders at CETIN’s general meeting on December 3, 2015. The shares owned by these minority shareholders therefore passed to the majority shareholder. As a result, in January 2016, PPF Group completed the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of CETIN.
PPF Group
PPF Group was founded by Czech billionaire entrepreneur, founder Petr Kellner. He was the wealthiest person in Czech Republic until he died on March 27, 2021 near Knik Glacier, Alaska in a helicopter crash, along with four other people. Kellner owned 98.93% of the PPF investment and financial group at 2013.