Three Bidders Vie for Bulgaria's Vivacom

Three potential buyers have placed binding bids for Bulgaria's Vivacom by Thursday's deadline, Sofia-based Capital weekly reported.

One of the candidates is Greece's Olympia group backed by U.S.-based hedge fund firm Third Point. Olympia is controlled by Panos Germanos, the company's founder and main shareholder. Third Point LLC is an investment adviser based in New York and founded by Daniel Loeb, who serves as its CEO.

The second offer was submitted by Marc Schneider, co-founder of European cable group UPC, financially backed by U.S.-based private equity fund CVC.

The third candidate is Bulgarian-born and UK-based entrepreneur Spas Roussev. His offer is expected to be financially backed by VTB Capital,  the investment-banking arm of Russia's second-largest bank VTB.

VTB Capital is currently a security agent for a EUR 150 M bridge loan to Luxembourg-based  InterV Investment,  the indirect holding company of the largest telecommunications company by revenue in Bulgaria. The funding was secured via a Luxembourg share pledge over 100% of the shares in Vivacom owned by InterV Investment.

An auction will be held in London next Thursday for 100% of the shares of InterV Investment, which defaulted on loan repayment at the the maturity of the financing in May 2015.

Each of the three candidates should submit a deposit for participation by the date of the auction. The minimum price at the auction will be set equal to the highest of the three received bids, according to capital.bg.