Pt Capital Advisors, a subsidiary of Anchorage-based private equity firm Pt Capital, has reached an agreement to acquire all the shares in Icelandic mobile operator Nova from investment company Novator. Alaska Journal of Commerce writes that the sale price of the deal, which is expected to be finalised in the next few months, has not been disclosed. ‘Our investment is potentially the largest in Iceland since the 2009 crash,’ Pt Capital Advisors’ founder and CEO Hugh Short was cited by the Journal as saying, adding: ‘There is a lot of experience our team brings in the telecommunications business here that will help grow the company.’
TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that although subscriber penetration in the Icelandic wireless market was already over 100% by the time of Nova’s launch in December 2007, the company has been able to build up a sizeable customer base. At the end of June 2016 Nova had approximately 150,000 mobile subscribers, giving it a market share of roughly 36%, placing it neck and neck with Siminn (Iceland Telecom) and ahead of the smallest mobile network operator, Vodafone Iceland.