PPF Group confirmed last week that it had completed the sale of 50 percent plus one share in PPF Telecom Group’s assets in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia, to UAE-based carrier e&.

The deal, worth €2.15 billion ($2.33bn), sees e& acquire control of PPF Telecom, bar its business in Czechia.

The deal received regulatory approval from the European Commission (EC) last month.

PPF noted that it may receive an additional €350 million ($378m) based on potential earn-outs.

Netherlands-based PPF is a telecommunications provider in Czechia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia (Yettel), and Slovakia (O2). In total, the company serves more than 10 million customers.

e& (formerly Etisalat) is led by the Emirates Investment Authority (EIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates.

PPF CEO Jiří Šmejc said: "I welcome e& as our partner in the telco business in CEE. Together, we have created a platform to drive value creation in fast-developing telecommunications markets. Our partnership with e& testifies to the quality of PPF's industry expertise and local knowledge.

"In return, PPF's telco teams will benefit from the global scale and technology know-how of e&, enabling us to meet our ambitions for further growth. It took more than a year and a half since our initial discussions to close this extremely complex transaction. The result is hugely rewarding, and I would like to thank both teams for their great work."

Although based in the UAE, e&, formerly known as Etisalat, has a footprint that spans across 38 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and now Central and Eastern Europe.

e& has slowly built a presence in Europe, growing its stake in Vodafone Group to 15 percent earlier this month. The company has also been linked with a potential acquisition of eastern European carrier United Group BV.0