{"id":7566,"date":"2023-10-31T12:50:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T12:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/business\/vodafone-to-sell-spanish-business-to-zegona-for-up-to-e5bn\/"},"modified":"2023-10-31T12:50:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T12:50:31","slug":"vodafone-to-sell-spanish-business-to-zegona-for-up-to-e5bn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=7566","title":{"rendered":"Vodafone to sell Spanish business to Zegona for up to \u20ac5bn"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=117a9620-f105-490d-b96e-5bd2f06c1670\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Vodafone has agreed to sell its Spanish business to a fund founded by two former Virgin Media executives for up to \u20ac5bn, as the UK\u2019s largest telecoms group makes good on its promise to shrink its sprawling European operations.<\/p>\n<p>The UK operator said on Tuesday that it would sell the business, which controls almost a quarter of the Spanish market, to Zegona Communications.<\/p>\n<p>Zegona, which was founded in 2015 by Eamonn O\u2019Hare and Robert Samuelson to buy telecoms assets, will pay at least \u20ac4.1bn in cash. Vodafone will also buy up to \u20ac900mn of preference shares in Zegona, which is listed in London.<\/p>\n<p>The disposal is Vodafone\u2019s biggest step yet in scaling back its European businesses, many of which produced lacklustre returns in recent years. Revenues at its Spanish division fell 6.5 per cent year on year to \u20ac3.9bn.<\/p>\n<p>It is also the first significant deal by new chief executive Margherita Della Valle since stepping up from chief financial officer in April, and after vowing to streamline its European operations amid pressure from shareholders. <\/p>\n<p>Della Valle said on Tuesday that the sale was \u201ca key step in right-sizing our portfolio for growth and will enable us to focus our resources in markets with sustainable structures and sufficient local scale\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Turnover at its Spanish business has lagged Vodafone\u2019s other main European markets, Germany, the UK and Italy. Its almost 23 per cent share of the Spanish market makes it the third-biggest operator in the country behind Telef\u00f3nica and French telecoms group Orange, according to Statista. <\/p>\n<p>The fourth operator is MasMovil, which is waiting for clearance from the European Commission to establish a joint venture with Orange. Vodafone had been in talks with MasMovil in 2021 about merging its Spanish business.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the deal with Zegona, Vodafone has agreed to provide certain services to Vodafone Spain for an annual service charge of about \u20ac110mn.<\/p>\n<p>Vodafone said it would decide on the use of the proceeds of the deal after a broader capital allocation review. Shares in Vodafone were down 1.2 per in early London trading on Tuesday. The stock has fallen by more than a quarter over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n<p>The two companies have a brand licence agreement, which allows Zegona to use the Vodafone brand in Spain for up to 10 years post completion. They will also enter into other transitional and long-term arrangements for services including access to procurement and roaming services.<\/p>\n<p>In June, Vodafone announced plans to merge its domestic business with CK Hutchison-owned Three UK in June. The deal is being probed by the UK\u2019s competition regulator. <\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hare, chief executive of Zegona, told the Financial Times that if the MasMovil-Orange venture fails to complete, such as if remedies proposed by regulators are not acceptable to the companies, then he would want to reopen talks for a merger between Vodafone Spain and MasMovil. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they walk away, then there\u2019s no doubt we\u2019ll go and have a chat to MasMovil and say well that didn\u2019t work for you. What about this?\u201d he said, adding that Zegona wants to talk to Telef\u00f3nica, MasMovil and Orange about sharing opportunities across mobile, fixed line, fibre and databases.<\/p>\n<p>Zegona plans to simplify the Spanish business but shake up its culture to become \u201ca lot more like a local challenger\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Vodafone Spain deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/117a9620-f105-490d-b96e-5bd2f06c1670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Vodafone has&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vodafone to sell Spanish business to Zegona for up to \u20ac5bn | inFundPros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Vodafone has agreed to sell its\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=7566\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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