El-Viv Telecom tender attracts buyers, but at a low price

Today tender bids to buy El-Viv Telecom, the owner of the third largest cable TV network Aster City will be examined. El-Viv Telecom, which is owned by Elektrim Telekomunikacja (ET), has to be sold to cover a part of the $100 million that ET owes Elektrim. It seems there are no shortage of buyers, as offers to purchase Aster City were made by the Innova Capital a consortium of private equity funds, AIG CET, Enterprise Investors, a consortium of UPC and Advent International, a consortium of Vectra cable television, a group of private equity funds including BRE Private Equity, a consortium of Multimedia and Israeli investment funds and the EMPE fund. It seems UPC, Vectra and Multimedia are tipped as favorites in the bid. Preliminary bid prices have been placed between $80 million to $90 million, which is far lower than expectations. Investors are being cautious as they have doubts over the technical quality of Aster City's broadband network, the real number of clients, expected profits and whether clients will leave the network when prices are increased by over 10% in September. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 3) A.D.