Vienna, 02 October 2014

  • The prize was awarded by the trade magazine 'Acquisition International' for the Group's acquisition of blizoo in the Republic of Macedonia
  • The Jury unanimously agreed to give the much-coveted "Deal of the Month Award" to the Telekom Austria Group for its professional settlement of the transaction

"Our M&A team is working full force to consequently implement our convergence strategy. In the last three years alone, a total of 12 mergers and acquisitions were successfully finalized and, as a result, we are now operating as provider of comprehensive TV, Internet and telephony services in five of our eight markets. Not only our shareholders but also our customers are reaping the benefits, as we are now able to offer all services from a single source at an attractive price. Therefore, I congratulate our employees on winning this international award," said Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO Telekom Austria Group and A1.

Following the acquisition of blizoo, one of the leading cable operators on the Macedonian market, the Telekom Austria Group won 63,000 new customers. The Group's local subsidiary Vip operator, the second largest mobile operator in the country, is currently collaborating with blizoo to further expand the product range. Sharing synergies in terms of resources, strengths and processes will open up new opportunities moving forward. In 2013, blizoo reported total revenues of roughly EUR 10 million.

"We were able to successfully finalize this complex deal in Macedonia within roughly six months despite a very strict bidding process. I'm very delighted to have received this award jointly with my team, which is further recognition of our successful work," said Roland Haidner, M&A Director at the Telekom Austria Group.

This M&A deal was one of most-viewed transactions on the 'Deal Feed' M&A portal. Consequently, information about this acquisition was forwarded to the corresponding committee of the trade magazine 'Acquisition International' for further scrutiny. The jury unanimously agreed to award a prize to the Telekom Austria Group for the professional settlement of the transaction and subsequently informed the company about the award.

distributed by