Swedish investment firm buys 18.5% Com Hem stake

Swedish investment firm Kinnevik has bought an 18.5% stake in domestic TV, broadband and landline provider Com Hem in a SEK3.7 billion (€384 million) deal.

Kinnevik, which is also an investor in Swedish telco Tele2 and Nordic entertainment group MTG, agreed to buy 33.9 million Com Hem shares from NorCell – the indirect investment holding company of funds advised by BC Partners.

“Com Hem has a strong market position in the Swedish broadband and TV market, and offers attractive growth and cash flow,” said Kinnevik’s acting CEO, Joakim Andersson.

“The acquisition enables Kinnevik to take a leading position in an asset complementing our existing mobile and media companies.”

The news comes in the same week that Com Hem reported strong first quarter results that saw revenue increase 37.7% to SEK1.76 billion.

Organic revenue rose by 3.5% to SEK1.32 billion in the quarter, while operating profit climbed by 13.1% to SEK232m and organic underlying EBITDA increased by 4.3% to SEK 629m.

Kinnevik said that it will finance the Com Hem deal with cash at hand, existing credit facilities and capital market programs. It expects the deal to close on May 4.