Final buyers

Yesterday was a big day for Czech business. Not only did Vodafone announce the purchase of Oskar, the No. 3 mobile- phone operator, from TIW, but CME also revealed the "strictly private and confidential" details of its purchase of TV Nova from PPF in a Nasdaq filing. When the two deals close later this year, so will a long chapter in post-Communist capitalism. Both Oskar and TV Nova were the subject of allegations of license irregularities in the 1990s, and both were linked to IPB, which went under due to its loans to friends and family (in the mafia sense). Vodafone and CME are the "final buyers," those who pay the high price to the wheelers and dealers and have to establish their businesses on commercial merits alone. There will be individual winners and losers when Vodafone and CME take over, but the overall effect on Czech business can only be positive. [Czech Repblic Central European Media Enterprises licensing Český Mobil]