The process for the sale of Nova continues amid prospects that the four potential investors – two Arab telecommunications organizations and two US investment funds – will submit offers at the end of October, according to sources.
More specifically, based on sources, Searchlight Capital Partners, Warburg Pincus, the Saudi Arabian Saudi Telecom Company and Etisalat from the United Arab Emirates are scrutinising Nova and the group it belongs to, United Group.
They are in the due diligence phase, while it is open whether the sale will concern the United Group’s companies individually or the entire Group.
The desired price is above 1.5 billion euros
In any case, Nova seems to have attracted a lot of interest as an integrated provider with fixed, mobile telephony, internet and pay TV.
However, according to executives of the telecommunications market, the sale process will only be completed if United’s shareholders (BC Partners and Serbian businessman Dragan Solak) manage to secure the price they want, which exceeds 1.5 billion euros (only for Nova).
New 5G device
In the meantime, Nova is entering the battle to win new subscribers with a new commercial policy that will leverage the demand boost voucher (expected to be made available to consumers in the near future), with upgrades to existing consumer connections, as well as a new 5G device.
The new device was presented by the management of Nova noting that there is a lack of mobile phones with upgraded features and an affordable price in the market.
The Chief Marketing Officer of Nova, Michalis Anagnostakos, noted that the total penetration of 5G is at 95%, while the use of this modern mobile network is at 20%. This is attributed to the low penetration of 5G devices when the average price of 4G devices sold is 164 euros, compared to 595 euros for devices that support 5G.
Regarding fixed telephony and the development of the fiber optic network to homes and businesses (FTTH), the managing director of Nova, Panagiotis Georgiopoulos, in response to a related question, said that 540,000 connections will have been made by the end of the year and 1 million by the end of 2026.
