January 3 (SeeNews) - Across Media Holding, a company controlled by Slovakian investment group Across Finance, has received antitrust approval in Bulgaria to take control of five Serbian media planning and buying companies, four of which are subsidiaries of Sweden-registered I&F Holding, the Bulgarian competition authority said.
Across Media Holding has been cleared to buy I&F Mediabrands, I&F Lokomotiva, I&F Accounting and Adriatic Advertising, held by I&F Holding, which is ultimately owned by Sweden-registered private vehicle Vicino Holding, the Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) said in a statement on Tuesday.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
Under a separate deal, Across Media is also cleared to take over Serbia-based Enterprise for Market Communications Media Pool owned by North Macedonia-registered Magna Europe Import-Export, which is itself wholly-owned by Cyprus-based Lilysol Limited.
I&F Mediabrands is the sole owner of Bulgaria-based agencies Universal Media and Initiative, whereas Enterprise for Market Communications Media Pool owns Bulgarian subsidiary Media Pool Sofia. Across Media Holding has no Bulgarian operations.
The transaction, notified in November, creates no horizontal or vertical overlaps and does not lead to a dominant market share. It will therefore not affect competition on the relevant markets, the antitrust authority said.
Both transactions were agreed in August 2023, according to information published by CPC, which did not include the value of the deals.
I&F Grupa was founded in Belgrade by Srdjan Saper in 1997 and has built a marketing communications business spanning the Nordic region as well as Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Albania, with some 600 staff. The group also includes agencies McCann, Drive, MRM//McCann, Craft, Scandinavian Design Group and Adrenalin.
Across Media Holding is owned at 75% by Across Finance, with the remaining 25% held by JTPEG Serbia Investments, a vehicle of Cyprus-based J&T Private Equity Group.