The majority shareholder in Spanish operator Hispasat is happy to maintain its 57% stake in the business and has no plans to increase its holding.
Barcelona-based infrastructure group Abertis, which took control of Hispasat in July 2013, also said that…
The majority shareholder in Spanish operator Hispasat is happy to maintain its 57% stake in the business and has no plans to increase its holding.
Barcelona-based infrastructure group Abertis, which took control of Hispasat in July 2013, also said that it will support the satellite operator’s plan to double the size of its revenue by 2022.
Speaking at an investor presentation in London this week, Abertis revealed plans to spin off its telecoms and broadcast tower unit from its core toll road business in the first half of next year. However, in spite of Hispasat seemingly being more complementary to Abertis’s telecoms business, the majority stake will not be part of the spin off and will instead remain with the core Abertis group.
Hispasat’s other significant shareholder is Eutelsat, which holds a 33.69% stake in the company. The Spanish government owns the remainder through state-owned groups SEPI and CDTI, which have stakes of 7.41% and 1.85%, respectively.
Hispasat not giving up on Spacecom
Meanwhile, a Hispasat spokesperson said a deal for Israeli satellite operator Spacecom could still be done. The operator had been pursuing the acquisition of a controlling stake in its Israeli counterpart for most of the year but the deal was called off in August after months of negotiations.
However, the spokesperson said that Hispasat could reconsider resurrecting the deal, if the circumstances were right.
Its interest in Spacecom is part of the operator’s broader plan of looking outside its core Latin American and European markets for growth.
This week Hispasat’s chief commercial officer Ignacio Sanchis gave a presentation in Rabat, Morocco, to market the company’s services as part of its commercial strategy to expand its presence in neighbouring markets.
Hispasat considers Morocco as an ideal market for its services, given its economic development and geographical proximity to Spain. The country lacks telecommunications infrastructure and the operator believes that satellites can provide the best solution to those shortcomings.
The group also plans to increase the broadcast of Moroccan channels in different countries around the world and make a more extensive foreign channel package available in Morocco.
In the longer term, Hispasat intends to move into sub-Saharan Africa and Asia where it believes the best opportunities for growth are.
A Hispasat spokesperson said the operator was open to any growth opportunities that may arise in these regions and would pay particular attention to those that involve collaborating with other operators.
