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Spanish MVNO, broadband provider to pay 158 million for rival; says deal will not prevent it from participating in further consolidation.
Spain’s self-styled fourth convergent operator Masmovil has given its mobile and broadband customer base a boost with the acquisition of fellow MVNO Pepephone.
Masmovil will pay €158 million in cash for Pepephone, including a €20 million instalment it has already transferred, it announced on Friday.
The deal will add 460,000 mobile customers and 35,000 broadband connections to Masmovil’s base. On completion of the transaction, Masmovil will have a mobile customer base of close to 1 million and around 60,000 broadband customers, while full-year revenues will come in in excess of €200 million.
"In this way, Masmovil consolidates its position as the fourth convergent operator in Spain," the telco said, in a statement.
Masmovil declared itself to be Spain’s fourth national operator in August, when it agreed to acquire fibre network assets from Orange and brokered a wholesale deal for DSL network access.
The ambitious firm passed up on the opportunity to acquire a controlling stake in mobile virtual network operator YouMobile in January, having conducted due diligence on it, but appears to be back in the running for Spain’s fourth mobile network operator Yoigo. According to local press reports, U.K. investment fund Zegona has missed the deadline to submit a formal offer for Telia Company’s 76.6% stake in Yoigo, leaving the way clear for Masmovil to swoop in with a €550 million bid. There has been no official comment from any of the parties involved though.
On Friday Masmovil said it will finance the Pepephone deal through a combination of debt and the issuance of new shares. It was quick to point out that this will have no impact on its ability, financially, "to continue participating in the future development and the consolidation of the [telecoms] sector in Spain."
The deal requires the approval of the regulator, the Comision Nacional de Mercados y Competencia (CNMC) and the completion of due diligence. Masmovil expects it to close in mid-July.
