Shareholders in Ono approved the management’s plan to proceed with an IPO this morning, while Vodafone Group continues to conduct accelerated due diligence ahead of a potential €7bn takeover offer for the Spanish cableco, TelecomFinance…
Shareholders in Ono approved the management’s plan to proceed with an IPO this morning, while Vodafone Group continues to conduct accelerated due diligence ahead of a potential €7bn takeover offer for the Spanish cableco, TelecomFinance understands.
Ono’s private equity owners are conducting a dual-track process in a bid to extract the most value from the asset and the company’s board has met this afternoon in Madrid, a person familiar with the matter said.
Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan are in position to lead a listing, TelecomFinance was previously told.
Ono had held informal talks with Vodafone in early February, but rebuffed its interest due to a difference in valuation and decided to press ahead with a long-planned flotation.
However, Vodafone raised its offer at the end of last week to €7bn, which was said to have “focused minds” in the Ono camp.
Vodafone’s CEO, Vittorio Colao, was reported to have brokered the deal last week, which would be Vodafone’s first acquisition since it offloaded its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless for US$130bn.
Vodafone was said to have initially proposed offers that valued Ono at €6bn and €6.5bn.
Ono is 54.4%-owned by investment firms Providence Equity Partners, Thomas H. Lee, CCMP and Quadrangle, which invested €1bn into the company in 2005. The rest of its stock is held by other institutional investors.
