KPN has disposed of a quarter of its shares in Telefónica Deutschland that it acquired through its sale of E-Plus in 2014 and will return most of the €805m (US$860m) generated to shareholders in a dividend.
KPN (AMS:KPN) has disposed of a quarter of its shares in Telefónica Deutschland (ETR:O2D), which it acquired through its sale of E-Plus in 2014.
The Dutch incumbent sold 150 million shares in Telefónica Deutschland at €5.37 per share – a 7.7% discount on its last closing share price – in an accelerated bookbuild to generate €805m (US$860m).
Seventy percent of that sum will be returned to its shareholders in a special divided and the rest will be used to bolster KPN’s balance sheet.
A KPN spokesperson said the sell-off was managed by UBS and Citigroup.
KPN’s stake in Telefónica Deutschland, which has fallen from 20.5% to 15.5%, cannot sell any more of its shares for 90 days under a lock-up agreement.
KPN remains the second largest shareholder in the operator behind Spanish giant Telefónica, which holds 62.6%. The remainder of Telefónica Deutschland shares are freefloat. In addition to the stock, KPN also received €5bn (US$6.6bn) cash for E-Plus, which Telefónica Deutschland was allowed to consolidate after a long regulatory process.
To secure approval, the companies agreed to guarantee local MVNOs access to their networks in order to preserve competition as the number of MNOs fell from four to three. On completion Telefónica Deutschland became the largest mobile player in Germany with around 41 million subscribers.
Following the sale, KPN reinforced its domestic fixed-line business consolidating
The future ownership of KPN has long been speculated. It is ultimately viewed as a target within the scope of European consolidation, but the operator blocked a €7.2bn (US$9.7bn) takeover attempt by América Móvil in 2013.
Serial acquirer Altice has meanwhile said KPN is too expensive.
