SigmaBleyzer, the owner of the largest Ukrainian cable operator Volia, announced on 3 December that Providence Equity Partners, one of the largest private equity funds in the world specialized in the media and telecommunications industries, is going to invest in Volia more than $200 million.      

It was announced in the official statement of SigmaBleyzer that the investment banks Goldman Sachs International and UBS Investment Bank acted as the company’s financial advisors. The Lazard company was the financial advisor of Providence. The deal is expected to be closed in December 2007.      

‘For Volia, it is a natural move forward, – as well as for SigmaBleyzer and the other shareholders’, noted SigmaBleyzer president and CEO Michael Bleyzer. ‘Indeed, we count on Providence’s support during the Volia company’s further evolution’.

‘For our company, it is already seventh large investment in this business segment in Europe, and the second one in Eastern Europe, where demand is growing for high-tech television and high-speed Internet access’, said Providence CEO Jonathan M. Nelson. ‘We consider that such highly professional companies as Volia are crucial providers of telecommunications services and that they have significant growth and value increasement potential’.

Providence Equity Partners Inc. – one of the largest private equity funds in the world specialized in the media and telecommunications industries. Its headquarters is based in Rhode Island, USA. It has regional offices in New York, London, Hong Kong and New Delhi. The company manages direct investments in the amount of about $21 billion. Since the moment of its foundation in 1989 year, it has invested funds in more than 100 companies located in more than 20 countries of the world. The company’s assets include Bresnan Broadband Holdings, Casema, Com Hem, Digiturk, Education Management Corporation, eircom, Freedom Communications, Hulu, Idea Cellular, Kabel Deutschland, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, NexTag, Ono, Open Solutions, PanAmSat, ProSiebenSat.1, Recoletos, TDC, Univision, VoiceStream Wireless, Warner Music Group, Western Wireless, and Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network.

ZAO “Volia Kabel” is the largest Ukrainian cable operator. It is the part of the Ukrainian Growth Fund III investment fund belonging to the international company Sigma Bleyzer. The fund’s total sum amounts to $60 million. Serving about 450,000 analogue TV subscribers (ARPU — $4) and 130,000 digital TV subscribers (ARPU — $6), which make up 80% of the market. Technical limitations imply up to 18 channels. Company’s revenue in 2006 was $31,68 million, its net profit was $2,38 million.