Hungarian telecoms and IT group 4iG yesterday announced the completion of a share swap deal under which its subsidiary Antenna Hungaria has transferred its 25% stakes in mobile operator Yettel Hungary and the latter’s infrastructure division CETIN Hungary to Hungarian state-owned Corvinus International Investment. In return, Antenna Hungaria has raised its stake in mobile/fixed/pay-TV operator Vodafone Hungary from 51% to 70.5%, with Corvinus’ Vodafone stake correspondingly reduced from 49% to 29.5%. 4iG will now hold rights to delegate five of seven board members at Vodafone Hungary. 4iG CEO Peter Fekete said the share swap will ‘strengthen the efficiency of integration’ of telecoms companies into the 4iG group portfolio, which also includes quadruple-play network operator DIGI Hungary among other divisions.
4iG no longer holds any shares in Yettel Hungary or CETIN Hungary, which are 75% controlled by Czech-led, Netherlands-based PPF Telecom Group and PPF’s CETIN Group, respectively.
4iG and Corvinus completed their joint 100% takeover of Vodafone Hungary from the UK’s Vodafone Group on 31 January 2023, in a deal which was excluded from antimonopoly regulation via decree. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Government Decree 2/2023 (I.9.) published in National Gazette No. 4 of 2023 (9 January) classified the deal as a merger of ‘national strategic significance’, bypassing scrutiny from the competition authority Gazdassgi Versenyhivatal (GVH).