The European Commission (EC) has unconditionally approved Telefonica’s €8.6bn (US$11.34bn) acquisition of German mobile operator E-Plus from Dutch telco KPN.
The Commission conditionally cleared the deal on 2 July, with final approval subject to…
The European Commission (EC) has unconditionally approved Telefonica’s €8.6bn (US$11.34bn) acquisition of German mobile operator E-Plus from Dutch telco KPN.
The Commission conditionally cleared the deal on 2 July, with final approval subject to Telefonica Deutschland (O2) signing an acceptable agreement to sell 20% of its mobile network capacity using a mobile bitstream access model upfront, with the option to extend this to 30%.
O2 signed such an agreement with MVNO Drillisch and the EC has now confirmed it complies with the upfront conditions attached to the E-Plus takeover.
Announcing the final approval today, O2 said its next step will be to carry out the capital measures required to fund the transaction. The telco still expects the deal to close this quarter.
“With the final clearance of the European Commission now granted, we are able to close the transaction soon and create a leading digital telecommunication company in Germany,” O2 chief strategy officer Markus Haas said.
E-Plus CEO Thorsten Dirks will head up the enlarged O2 once the deal closes.
