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bne Invest
August 2, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 5
Delta Group becomes majority owner of BSE-listed Est Media
bne IntelliNews
BSE-listed holding company Est Media acquired 100% of IT company Delta Systems for HUF28.6bn (€87.3mn) it was announced on July 30. Trade in the shares of Est Media was suspended pending the announcement. The suspension was lifted in the early afternoon. It ended trading up 4% at 156 and over the five days, the shares jumped 15% on speculation of a major deal coming.
With the transaction Delta Group will be the latest entrant to the Budapest bourse, as it acquired
an "empty company" with little business activity, local business media opined. Est Media reported HUF4bn in revenue last year compared with HUF 16bn expected by Delta System in the business year ending on June 30. The IT company has operated profitably in every year since 2010, albeit with low margins ranging from 0.4% and 2.9%.
Est Media's profile includes asset management, media and telecommunication activities.
Est Media, formerly known as Econet, gained stakes in the company organising the annual Sziget festival in 2007 but due to its financial problems was forced to sell the shares in 2012. The company struggled to stay afloat after the economic crisis. It parted with some of its stakes in the media closing down its national commercial radio channel.
Est Media spent years under bankruptcy protection but settled claims with creditors a few years ago. Majority owner Csaba Balazs floated the idea
of bringing a big investor on board several times in the past.
The company's share price soared after the company of Andy Vajna bought a 5.2% stake indirectly in the company last fall. Hopes of the Vajna company taking a majority stake were shattered after the death of the government commissioner of the film industry in January.
Ex-head of Ukraine's unit of Alfa Bank seeks purchase Russia's VEB 'expropriated' operations
IntelliNews Pro
Companies affiliated with an investment banking boutique Investohills, owned by Andriy Volkov, ex-head of the Ukrainian operations of Russia’s Alfa-Bank, are going to purchase Prominvestbank, the local subsidiary of Russia's state-owned lender VEB, at an auction in August branded by VEB as "illegal".
According to the Ukrainian National Securities and Stock Market Commission, Volkov-controlled Financial Company (FC) Geneva and Yevropeiske Oshchadne Tovarystvo are seeking to take part
in the auction, news agency Interfax reported
on July 26.