Vodafone to sell Spanish business to Zegona for up to €5bn

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Vodafone has announced the sale of its Spanish business to Zegona Communications for up to €5bn, as the telecoms group aims to improve its competitiveness and growth prospects.

The deal is made up of €4.1bn in cash and up to €900mn in the form of redeemable preference shares.

The UK telecoms investment fund had said in September that the companies were in talks.

Margherita Della Valle, chief executive of Vodafone, said: “Following the recently announced transaction in the UK, Spain is the second of our larger markets in Europe where we are taking action to improve the group’s competitiveness and growth prospects.”

Vodafone announced plans to merge its domestic business with CK Hutchison-owned Three UK in June.