M&A spree in the telecoms market

The telecommunications sector has found itself in a new cycle of acquisitions and mergers at the European level, as well as in Greece.

The intense movement of providers across Europe, driven by heightened competition and the need to cut costs, has been compared by analysts to the barrage of mergers and acquisitions recorded in 1999. Just in the last few months Swisscom agreed to buy Vodafone's operations in Italy for around 8.5 billion euros, France's Orange merged with Masmovil in a transaction valued at €19 billion, and Telecom Italia sold its landline network to US investment fund KKR.

In Greece, the companies expected to change hands include Nova, as part of the divestment of Nikos Stathopoulos' BC Partners from the telecommunications and audio-visual content provider United Group, which owns the telecommunications provider.

The acquisition of United Group...