The mobile telephony operator, Cosmote Romania, will shortly boast the biggest network of stores among all mobile telephony operators on the domestic market, and will have an important role in the phone and GSM accessories distribution sector. This will happen if the deal whereby Cosmote Greece buys the majority take in Germanos, the biggest telecom retailer in Central and Eastern Europe, expected to be struck yesterday, according to the plans announced by both parties, comes through.
According to a joint announcement by Cosmote Greece and Germanos, Cosmote is conducting exclusive talks to acquire the 34.8% stake in Germanos group, from its founder and main shareholder in the group, Panos Germanos.
The Germanos retail chain is present in Greece, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus and Macedonia and last year derived total turnover worth 1.02 billion euros, up 19%, while its net income advanced by 17%, to 63.1 million euros.
As for the impact of this deal on the domestic market, the representatives of Cosmote Romania and Greece, contacted by ZF, were unwilling to make any comment. Yet, it is not difficult to anticipate that the deal will strengthen the operator”s position in Romania. The operator is trying to attract customers after it was re-launched last December, and the distribution network plays an important part in this.
Moreover, Cosmote, which owns only 12 stores in Romania, has recently sealed an exclusive partnership with Avenir Telecom, which secures exclusive presence of its all products and services in Avenir”s 68 Internity-branded stores. At that time, neither of the two companies was willing to offer details of the financial data of the contract. However, sources close to the transaction maintain that the telephony operator made Avenir Telecom an offer it could not refuse, which thus chose to no longer renew its partnership with Orange Romania.
In the wake of Germanos acquisition, the number of stores Cosmote owns in Romania will go up to 116, several times higher than the number of stores held by the mobile telephony operators. Cosmote will become, at least at first, a major player in the GSM retailers market. adrian.seceleanu@zf.ro