Telefónica has started distributing the sale documents for the fiber optic company it shares with Liberty Global in the UK through the operator Virgin Media O2 (VMO2). The company’s goal is to raise around €1.2 billion by placing between 20% and 40% of its infrastructure company. According to Mergermarket, the aforementioned Hispano-British NetCo could be valued between £4 billion and £5 billion (€4.8 billion and €6 billion), in a deal that could attract four specialized capital funds in this type of asset: Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), BlackRock, EQT Infrastructure, and Asterion Industrial Partners, the sources added. The same list of potential candidates also includes large pension funds and direct institutional investors, such as AustralianSuper, CPPIB, PSP, and QIC.
The same sources have pointed to the end of next January as the deadline to receive bids for the first round, so VMO2 is speeding up the details of a future transaction that has the financial advisory of Barclays and Lion Tree. In fact, these two banks started distributing the information memorandums to potential bidders just over a week ago.
Telefónica and Virgin Media established a joint company last February, designed to integrate the cable and fiber network of the Spanish operator, which had been deployed in 16.2 million premises across the UK.
Telefónica begins sale of up to 40% of stake in British fiber for €1.2 billion
