Poland's regional telephony and internet services provider SferaNet could consider attracting an outside investor to finance infrastructure projects and might look at takeover opportunities in the east of Poland, the head of the firm's supervisory board told EMIS.
"We will be talking to investments funds, because the projects we have planned require outside financing," Anna Stanaszek said. She added that the final decision on how to finance the projects will be made in the last quarter of the year. The company is also mulling a bond issue.
SferaNet operates mainly in the city of Bielsko-Biała and the surrounding area in Poland's southern Śląskie region.
"We do not rule out takeovers of local operators in eastern Poland. This could take place after the completion of ongoing projects, that is, at the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016," Stanaszek said. Many interesting operators were acquired by listed domestic telecom major Netia, when the latter was consolidating local operators a few years back, so takeovers could be difficult as the entities left are either uninteresting or reluctant to be bought, Stanaszek explained.
Potential takeovers could be partly financed with a share issue, the executive said.
SferaNet itself is not up for sale. A year ago, the company's owners received an offer for the firm, but no agreement was reached with the potential buyer. "We have spoken recently [with the two co-owners] and the plan is that we won't be up for sale until 2020," Stanaszek said.
SferaNet is owned by individuals, with the two founders of the firm holding over 77% of it.
SferaNet provides fixed line and internet communication services in southern Poland. The firm is also working on providing cable TV services and mobile telephony services as a virtual operator.
It is also carrying out three projects to construct fibre optic infrastructure for broadband internet access, worth over PLN 8mn, over half of which will be financed by EU grants.
SferaNet reported revenues of PLN 2.021mn and a net profit of PLN 108,032 in 2013. This year the firm expects a double-digit growth in revenues. After mid-2015, when SferaNet is expected to complete the three ongoing fibre optic infrastructure projects, revenues will grow significantly, Stanaszek said.