TeliaSonera’s Spanish unit Yoigo could be back on sale, after the telco received interest from local player MasMovil and multiple private equity firms.
Sources cited in a Bloomberg report on Monday claimed that Yoigo could fetch approximately €500 million. The report said one or more private equity firms could bid alone or by partnering with MasMovil.
Spain’s self-styled fourth national operator, MasMovil operates MVNO services using Orange’s network. In May it acquired LTE frequencies in 26 provinces after closing its €27.1 million purchase of business services provider Neo.
In August, MasMovil acquired some fibre network assets from Orange’s Jazztel and brokered a wholesale agreement for copper xDSL network access.
Meanwhile, Sweden-based TeliaSonera tried to offload its 76% stake in Yoigo in 2012, attracting interest from Vodafone, Orange and America Movil.
The sale was scrapped though because TeliaSonera said the offers it received did not consider Yoigo’s growth potential.
However, in July 2014, TeliaSonera CEO Johan Dennelind hinted that he was still looking to exit Spain after admitting that Yoigo was sub-scale and struggling to compete.
