Trigon (IMAP Poland) advised Cyfrowy Polsat on its acquisition of Netia and strategic investment in 7 TV channels

Trigon advised Cyfrowy Polsat Group on its strategic investments: the acquisition of block of shares of Netia, acquisition of Eska TV and Lemon Records as well as investment in TV Spektrum. The total implied EV of target companies exceeded PLN 2.3 billion.

Cyfrowy Polsat Group, the largest Polish privately owned company and the leading provider of entertainment and telecommunication services, acquired a combined block of approximately 32% of shares in Netia S.A., the WSE-listed second largest fixed-line telecom in Poland. The total purchase price has been set at PLN 638.8 million. Cyfrowy Polsat, together with Karswell, has also announced a tender offer for the sale of 66% of shares in Netia. Both transactions imply the Enterprise Value of Netia above PLN 2.2 billion. Through its acquisition of Netia, Cyfrowy Polsat is pursuing yet another strategic investment aimed at expanding its multiplay offer and boosting the implementation of its convergent operator strategy. Trigon was the financial advisor in the transaction and is acting as the tender offer agent.

Tobias Solorz, President of the Management Board of Cyfrowy Polsat S.A., Polkomtel Sp. z o.o. said:

“To us, Netia represents valuable infrastructure, attractive client base and entry point to an entirely new market. It is a potential amalgamation of two perfectly complementary businesses and a natural step in the development of our Group, one that will let us offer our existing and future clients new services and add attractive new elements to our package of integrated services”.

About the transaction

​​​Cyfrowy Polsat Group has been consequently pursuing the multiplay operator strategy in the recent years, inter alia, by expanding the portfolio of its services and offering, together with Plus mobile network, the smartDOM program while offering 9 different products and services: the flagship services of pay TV, mobile telephony and LTE Internet, as well as electricity, gas, house monitoring, banking and insurance services, telecommunication equipment, radio, television and white goods. Fixed line Internet from Netia will be a natural step in the development of Cyfrowy Polsat Group’s multiplay offer and will be an attractive addition, improving the accessibility of the offer to both individual and business clients. Netia offers the countrywide fibre network, including over 20k km of backbone infrastructure. In 2016, consolidated revenues of Netia exceeded PLN 1.5 billion.

In parallel to acquisition of Netia, Polsat TV acquired 100% of shares in ESKA TV and Lemon Records as well as 34% stake in TV Spektrum and concluded a preliminary share purchase agreement pertaining to further 15% of shares in that company. The total value of the transaction amounted to ca. PLN 103 million. The transaction will strengthen the current offer and portfolio of Polsat TV. Trigon acted as the financial advisor to Polsat TV.

Cyfrowy Polsat Group is one of the largest Polish companies and a leading media and telecommunications group in the region. It provides 16.5 million services to 5.9 million customers and includes: (i) Cyfrowy Polsat, Poland’s largest and Europe’s fourth largest satellite platform, (ii) Polkomtel, the operator of Plus mobile telecommunications network and one of the leading mobile networks in Poland, (iii) Polsat TV, the leading commercial broadcaster in Poland by both audience and advertising market share, and (iv) ipla, leader in the online video market in Poland. Consolidated 2016 EBITDA of Cyfrowy Polsat Group exceeded PLN 3.6 billion. Cyfrowy Polsat is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and as of 1st December 2017 its market capitalisation exceeded PLN 15.5 billion.