MidEuropa Announces Sale of Bite to Providence

MidEuropa, the leading private equity firm in Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey, and Providence Equity Partners (“Providence”), a leading global private equity firm, announced today that they have entered into an agreement under which funds affiliated with Providence will acquire Bite Finance International BV (“Bite” or the “Group”) from MidEuropa for an undisclosed value. The transaction is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2016.

Bite controls a leading mobile operator in the Baltic countries (#2 in Lithuania and #3 in Latvia) that is focused on meeting growing demand in the region for a high quality network experience and providing excellent customer service. The Group offers a wide range of mobile services, internet access and data services for business and residential customers through its nationwide coverage.

Michelle Capiod, Partner of MidEuropa commented:

“Bite has grown considerably under our ownership, while the Group has invested significantly in nationwide roll-outs of 3G and LTE networks. Working in close partnership with management, we have built a highly resilient business. Combining strong leadership and execution, Frederick Hrenchuk and his team have focused on delivering an outstanding customer experience, which has proven to be a winning strategy for Bite. We would like to thank Bite management and employees for their outstanding achievements and wish them continued success as they embark on an exciting journey with their new owner.”

Frederick Hrenchuk, CEO of Bite commented:

“With MidEuropa’s support we have developed Bite into one of the most dynamic, high quality and customer oriented mobile operators in Europe. We are grateful for their strong commitment to Bite’s long term strategy and look forward to further strengthening the business under the ownership of Providence.”

Karim Tabet, Managing Director at Providence, said:

“Bite is an exceptional company and we are excited to partner with Frederick and the entire team.  We bring with us our considerable experience supporting the growth of media and communications companies in other markets”.

Robert Sudo, Managing Director at Providence added:

“We look forward to supporting Bite in its development and its strategy of putting the customer first.”

Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive financial adviser and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as legal counsel to MidEuropa on this transaction.

The transaction was executed by Michelle Capiod, Robert Chmelar, Ratko Jovic and Gyozo Lantos from MidEuropa.