U.S. FUND EYEING MORE CABLE TV FIRMS IN BULGARIA

Views on BG | January 17, 2002, Thursday // 00:00

Reuters

The Southeast Europe Equity Fund (SEEF), a U.S. fund managed by Soros Private Funds Management, said on Thursday it planned to invest in more cable television companies in Bulgaria as part of ongoing sector consolidation.

The SEEF, set up in 2000 by the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation, is a $150 million private fund that makes equity investments in private or privatising companies in the Balkan region.

In November it bought a majority stake in Bulgaria's cable TV company Eurocom Cable and committed to investing $10 million.

"We are looking to acquire more cable firms in Bulgaria and we are talking nearly to everybody," the SEEF's Senior Regional Executive Philippe Rombaut told Reuters by telephone.

"We want to take part in the consolidation of the cable business in Bulgaria and seek to acquire more than one company."

The SEEF has said it plans to invest over $100 million in the Balkans in 2002, mostly in media and telecommunications.

The fund, which began operations in January 2001, has so far invested $33 million and sealed three deals in the media or telecom sectors.

Apart from Eurocom, the fund has also invested in Digital City Media, a Croatian cable TV firm. In early 2001, the fund, in a consortium led by Hungary's Matav Rt MTAV.BU, acquired a 51-percent stake in Macedonia's telecom monopoly MakTel.

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