Spain’s smallest mobile network operator Yoigo has agreed a €130m five-year loan to invest in 4G technology.
Santander acted as agent and was also a bookrunner on the transaction, alongside Banco Sabadell and Caixa Bank.
Yoigo’s network covers…
Spain’s smallest mobile network operator Yoigo has agreed a €130m five-year loan to invest in 4G technology.
Santander acted as agent and was also a bookrunner on the transaction, alongside Banco Sabadell and Caixa Bank.
Yoigo’s network covers more than 50% of the Spanish population and the company has a sharing agreement with Telefonica which enhances its footprint.
However, the operator is struggling to cope in the highly-competitive Spanish market and parent TeliaSonera is considering selling the business.
In an interim report last week, the CEO of the Nordic telco said it was reviewing its ownership of Yoigo due to a strong convergence trend in Spain that is putting pressure on its mobile-only offering, and because it lacks scale with only 7% market share.
Gauging interest
A report in El Economista published at the weekend suggested TeliaSonera has begun testing Spanish telcos’ appetite for Yoigo, even though it is yet to launch a formal process to sell the business.
Intermediaries have contacted Orange’s unit in the country and fixed-line operator Jazztel to tell them that TeliaSonera is looking for €700m for Yoigo, the report said citing sources familiar with the situation.
Analysts have been expecting further consolidation after Vodafone agreed to buy cableco Ono for €7.2bn (US$10bn), while Telefonica is in the process of acquiring DTH operator Distribuidora de Television Digital, which operates as Canal+.
Orange has been linked with an acquisition of triple-play operator Jazztel. Earlier this month Orange’s CEO Stephane Richard said that Spain is the country where his company is concentrating its search for acquisition targets.
