PE firms Investindustrial and Trilantic Capital Partners have acquired a 48% stake in Spanish cableco Euskaltel.
The firms did not disclose the price they paid but said their equity investment is more than €200m (US$259.3m).
The shares were acquired…
PE firms Investindustrial and Trilantic Capital Partners have acquired a 48% stake in Spanish cableco Euskaltel.
The firms did not disclose the price they paid but said their equity investment is more than €200m (US$259.3m).
The shares were acquired from KutxaBank, Iberdrola, Endesa, Mondragon and a number of Basque government-related entities.
It is not clear how much of the 48% stake would be owned by each PE firm.
Investindustrial said it expects the deal to close in mid December.
Euskaltel had 2011 sales of €334m with an EBITDA of €131m, but Investindustrial said that it believes the business has significant room to further improve its profitability.
“We have invested in leading companies in the Basque region in the past and it is with great confidence and enthusiasm that we are doing it again,” said Investindustrial founder Andrea Bonomi.
Euskaltel is the sole cableco in the Basque region, controlling a fully owned fibre-to-the-node network.
The outfit is currently 60%-owned by the Basque Region’s largest savings bank KutxaBank, 10% by Iberdrola and 9% by Endesa – two of Spain’s leading utilities – as well as 2% by Mondragon and 19% by other Basque government-related entities.
Euskaltel offers quadruple-play services.
Reports of a stake-sale in the enterprise have persisted since earlier this year, with media suggesting that a deal is entwined with the Basque authorities.
Investindustrial has €3.1bn of assets under management. US-based Trilantic – formerly part of Lehmann Brothers until its 2009 collapse – is an independent investment firm and has aggregate capital commitments of €2.93bn.
