The British Zegona fund It got ahead of the competition to take over Vodafone Spain and closed an agreement to take over the company for 5,000 million euros. Vodafone and Zegona will sign a brand licensing agreement that will allow the use of the Vodafone brand in Spain up to 10 years after its termination.
The British group will pay 4.1 billion euros in cash to Vodafone, which in turn will provide 900 million euros in financing in exchange for preferred shares in the fund. The structure of the agreement will be definitively closed when the authorizations are received and is subject to Zegona being able to raise more capital.
The investment fund plans to inject up to 600 million euros to undertake the operation, although its CEO, Eamonn O’Hare, explained in a press conference that the success of the operation is not subject to obtaining the necessary partners to reach this amount. If this round of financing exceeds 400 million euros, one in every two euros will go to reduce the financing provided by VodafonE Spain.
Likewise, he has indicated that he expects approval in “three or four months” from the Spanish Government to have the agreement closed during the first quarter of 2024, the same date on which Orange and MásMóvil hope to close their merger, which will give rise to a market of Telecommunications completely remodeled.
The fund is no stranger to the Spanish telecommunications market, since it landed in 2016 with the purchase of the Asturian Telecable and, subsequently, became one of the largest shareholders of Euskaltel, before its sale to MásMóvil.