Czech-based PPF group buys Nova Broadcasting in Bulgaria

Sweden Modern Times Groups is selling 95 percent of its shares in Nova Broadcasting, Bulgaria's largest media group, to the Czech financial group PFF for €185m. Nova Broadcasting runs seven TV channels and 19 websites with 650 employees. Its 2017 income was reported at €100m in sales and €20m in operating income. MTG will invest the money in Nordic studios and digital entertainment ventures, having bought Nova Broadcasting in 2008.
The owner of company PFF is the Czech business mogul Peter Kellner, one of the richest men in CEE with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $16bn. PFF group has assets of around €35 billion. Kellner has stakes in the consumer-finance firm Home Credit which operates in Czech, China, Russia and other 10 countries. He also has a stake in O2 Czech Republic, the London-listed rare metals company Polymetal and in PPF Bank. There are reports that PPF has its sites set next on Telenor's businesses in Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia and Hungary.