A private equity consortium has bought MobilTel, Bulgaria's biggest mobile operator, in a €1.2bn ($1.5bn) deal which is central and eastern Europe's largest leveraged buy-out.

A consortium of seven private equity groups led by ABN Amro Capital, Citigroup Investments and Communications Venture Partners, an Austrian private equity firm specialising in wireless telecoms, put €450m of equity in the deal to acquire 40% of the company.