Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is reportedly looking to enter the Spanish telecoms market by acquiring the country’s fourth-largest carrier, Yoigo.
The America Movil’s owner already has a small indirect stake in the wireless carrier via Spanish…
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is reportedly looking to enter the Spanish telecoms market by acquiring the country’s fourth-largest carrier, Yoigo.
The America Movil’s owner already has a small indirect stake in the wireless carrier via Spanish construction company FCC, which holds 3% of Yoigo, according to an unsourced report on Spanish website Hispanidad.
In the last few years, Yoigo, which is majority-owned by Swedish telco TeliaSonera, has been struggling to cope in the highly-competitive Spanish market. Last summer, TeliaSonera CEO Johann Dennelind said competition was fierce in Spain due to a strong convergence trend which was putting pressure on its mobile-only offering.
He described the budget mobile operator as a sub-scale business with 7% market share. “Consequently, we are reviewing our future presence in the Spanish market,” Dennelind said at the time.
The Swedish telco had tried to sell Yoigo in 2012, but the sale process was later called off as bidders were unwilling to match its €1bn (US$1.4bn) valuation.
Last year, larger rivals Orange, Vodafone and Jazztel were rumoured as the most likely buyers for the asset.
But Orange eventually agreed to acquire Jazztel for €3.4bn last September, while Vodafone said it would concentrate on integrating cable operator Ono, which it bought in March for €7.2bn, into its business.
America Movil is already present in Europe via its controlling stake in Telekom Austria and its minority holding in Dutch telco KPN. The Mexican incumbent has been looking to fuel international growth following regulatory changes in the domestic market, which are forcing the operator to sell some assets in order to reduce its market share to less than 50%.
A spokesperson for Yoigo said that its shareholders are not actively looking for a buyer, but the company will obviously respect any decision they might take in the future. America Movil declined to comment.
