Stock-listed investment fund MCI Management is expanding its portfolio with the purchase of a stake in Bulgarian alternative telecom operator Nexcom Bulgaria. The firm will inject a total of $7.13 (zł.19.4) million into Nexcom, $5 (zł.13.6) million for the purchase of 31.6 percent of its shares and $2.13 (zł.5.79) million for a one-year loan, said Bogdan Wi�niewski, associate partner and investment director at MCI Management.
The investment will be carried out together with Intel Capital, the investment arm of international processor giant Intel, which declined to reveal financial details on its involvement in the investment. While the firm will offer Nexcom its technological know-how, MCI Management will share its experience of high-tech investments in the CEE region.
Nexcom's key objective in the Bulgarian market is to build up services based on WIMAX, a wireless telecommunications technology. While Nexcom offers this service only in five Bulgarian cities, by the end of the year it wants to operate in 26, offering access to 60 percent of the country's population. "We have a lot of groundwork already done," said Christopher Haller, the chairman and co-owner of Nexcom.
The telecoms market in Bulgaria is estimated at around $2 (zł.5.4) billion and is expected to see double-digit growth, according to data from Pyramid Research. Although about 95 percent of the market is dominated by former monopoly-holder BTC, the diversification and the development of alternative telecoms services is speeding up.
According to Przemysław Jó�wiak, an analyst from Xelion Doradcy Finansowi, one of the advantages of the investment is the presence of Intel. "If the market is strong in five to seven years time, the company should not have any problem with getting a decent price for its Nexcom shares," he concluded.
