Vodafone to sell Spanish business to Zegona

Vodafone has confirmed the sale of its Spanish business to UK investment firm Zegona for $5.3 billion. Once the transaction is completed, Vodafone will get about €4.1 billion in cash and up to €0.9bn in the Redeemable Preference Shares.

Margherita Della Valle, chief executive of Vodafone, said, "The sale of Vodafone Spain is a key step in right-sizing our portfolio for growth and will enable us to focus our resources in markets with sustainable structures and sufficient local scale. I would like to thank our entire team in Spain for their dedication to our customers and relentless determination to improve our organic performance. However, the market has been challenging with structurally low returns.”

She added, "My priority is to create value through growth and improved returns. Following the recently announced transaction in the UK, Spain is the second of our larger markets in Europe where we are taking action to improve the Group’s competitiveness and growth prospects.”