TORONTO – Cogeco Inc. CEO Louis Audet told a conference yesterday that the company is looking to Eastern Europe for its next acquisition.
With everything in Canada, save for some independents here and there in its neighbouring territories, already claimed, Cogeco spent over $650 million to buy Cabovisao in Portugal in 2006. It was an acquisition that faced many doubters, but has turned out well for the company.
And with much of Western Europe pretty well developed, modern and consolidating, too, Audet told attendees at the BMO Nesbitt Burns Media and Telecom Conference on Tuesday that Eastern Europe is being explored. “If you look east, then you find markets that are smaller, more fragmented… more opportunities for us," he said.
Ideally, Cogeco is looking for a situation which it can improve upon and not a company that has already launched digital TV or voice over IP. “If it is ‘suboptimal’,” said Audet, “or working well with growth potential,” then that’s a situation Cogeco will target, he said.
He also added the company would be willing to spend up to a billion euros (around $1.4 million) in such a purchase and did not mention any country specifically.
– Greg O’Brien
