From Staff Reports
The European Commission (EC) has given AIG Global Investment Group the green light to acquire 65% of Bulgarian Telecommunications Co. (BTC), the Eastern European country’s largest landline telecommunications operator, for $1.47 billion. AIG Global Investment Group is the private-equity investment arm of American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG).
The EC ruled that the acquisition, the largest private takeover in the country to date, would not hinder competition in the region because AIG doesn’t have a telecom operation in the Europe Economic Area.
Formerly a state-owned venture, BTC was sold to Iceland’s Novator Holdings and Boston’s Viva Ventures, part of Advent International Corp.