Spain’s Telefonica has cut €812m from its debt pile after completing its €1bn disposal of Atento, its call centre business.
US private equity firm Bain Capital agreed to buy the unit in October. At the time Telefonica said it sold the business to…
Spain’s Telefonica has cut €812m from its debt pile after completing its €1bn disposal of Atento, its call centre business.
US private equity firm Bain Capital agreed to buy the unit in October. At the time Telefonica said it sold the business to increase its financial flexibility.
Morgan Stanley advised Telefonica on the disposal.
Telefonica had been looking to offload Atento for some time. In 2011 it cancelled a planned IPO for the unit citing unfavourable market conditions.
In March this year Telefonica had hired banks to reassess the market appetite for Atento.
Telefonica has taken a number of steps this year to address its liabilities.
It refinanced some of its bonds, reduced its stake in China Unicom, floated its German division and is now plotting an IPO for its Latin American business.
In its Q3 results Telefonica reported net debt of €56bn for the end of September – down from €58bn at the end of Q2 – and announced it expects a further reduction of its debt pile to €52.8bn should agreed disposals and restructuring close as planned.
It hopes to reduce its net debt to €50bn by the end of the year.
