SOFIA (Bloomberg) — AIG Global Investment Group yesterday agreed to acquire 65 percent in Bulgarian Telecommunications Co., the country’s largest fixed-line operator, from Icelandic billionaire Thor Bjorgolfsson for 2.11 billion lev ($1.47 billion).The New York-based company plans buy an additional 25 percent stake in BTC from minority shareholders, said Pierre Mellinger, who heads AIG Capital Partners’ operations in central and eastern Europe, in an interview from London.

AIG Global will buy a majority stake in Bulgaria’s biggest public company in what is the nation’s biggest acquisition to date.

Sofia-based Bulgarian Telecom has 2.9 million subscribers and controls 85 percent of the country’s fixed-phone lines.

The “acquisition fits well into our strategy of investments in this growing region,” Mellinger said in the interview. “We are attracted by the growth prospects.” AIG Global will pay 11.25 lev for each BTC share, according to the statement, valuing the whole company at 3.25 billion lev.

Bulgarian Telecom shares fell as much as 6.7 percent after the acquisition was announced.