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The majority owner of the PPF – the Czech billionaire Petr Keller – came to Bulgaria in one of the following days to meet the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. This confirmed for Capital three independent sources. There is no official information for the meeting. "We are not commenting on Keller's commercial program," said PPF's press service. According to the press center of the Council of Ministers, the official program of Boyko Borissov is not intended to see Kellner
According to sources of Capital, this is not the first meeting between them – the Prime Minister and Czech businessman have seen twice in recent months, the two meetings were held in the Cabinet building.
Today, the European Commission has approved the agreement between PPF and Telenor, which includes the acquisition of Bulgarian telecommunications group Norwegian (see more here). But another Kellner deal in Bulgaria – for the purchase of Nova TV by the Swedish MTG, was banned 11 days ago by the Bulgarian Competition Commission. In an unprecedented decision, the CPC decided that it would be an excessive concentration, although PPF currently has no other property here
The Telenor transaction was being examined by the EC and not by the CPC because it involved the acquisition of companies in several European countries.
According to a number of anti-monopoly specialists, the decision of the Bulgarian commission for "Nova TV" is extremely weak. This gives Kellner ample scope for appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court. What would happen there, however, would be vague, since in recent years the Supreme Administrative Court has repeatedly proved that its decisions depend on the governing bodies.
The CPC's appeal deadline expires on Thursday. PPF and Keller have at least two possible strategies
When he appeals, he must, on the one hand, rely on an impartial decision from the SAC and, on the other hand, to be ready to wage war against the Bulgarians in power. As the CPC ban is hard to come up with convincing legal arguments, the only possible explanation is the political pressure on it. The message of the decision was very clear: they do not want Kellner to own Nova TV. Since it will have another highly regulated public company in Bulgaria – Telenor, the confrontation with power does not seem to be the most reasonable move.
Another option for Keller is to abandon Nova TV. However, this would violate its initial plans for synergy between the media and telecoms. At the same time, it will lower the price of television, and since the current owner, the Swedish MTG, is sure to sell it, agreement with a local actor will be not only possible, but also easier
below only formally by CPC or SAC. The real decision is taken from Dondukov 1. And so, without any meeting with Borisov, any decision of Kellner will be a useless theorization. The question is, if there is an agreement, what will be the price of PPF commitments
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