London-Based Alegro Capital Acquires Bulgaria's TV7

Alegro Capital, a London-based corporate finance advisory firm, has acquired Bulgarian television TV7 for an undisclosed sum, it was announced on Tuesday.

Two years ago Alegro Capital advised Tengelmann Group in selling Plus Eastern Europe GmbH subsidiaries in Bulgaria and Romania to the international Lidl group.

The Bulgarian acquisition, which also includes BBT and Super7 TV channels, is the fund's first deal in Southeastern Europe, Patrick Martin, Managing Director and Head of Media, Internet and Entertainment practice at Alegro Capital, said at a press conference in Sofia on Tuesday.

Alegro Capital has developed significant expertise in the Telecoms, Media and Technology (TMT), Retail, Industrial and Consumer (RIC) and Renewable/Clean Tech sectors and has in its record corporate financial transactions worth USD 50 B in fifteen countries in Europe, US and Asia.

Speaking to local journalists on Tuesday Patrick Martin stressed that the market has been under pressure until recently, but it is starting to recede, which explains the timing of the deal.

TV7 was founded by Lyubomir Pavlov and Krassimir Gergov, using the license of TV channel Seven Days. After Pavlov and Gergov split, the media was led by Pavlov's wife Dilyana Grozdanova, former anchor at the state TV channel and member of parliament.

In 2009 TV7 was acquired by offshore company Crown Media in a deal advised by Tsvetan Vassilev, majority owner and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Corporate Commercial Bank.