The Spanish subsidiary of the British operator Vodafone seems to be receiving offers from private investors to take over the business unit in Spain. Although Vodafone does not officially have it for sale, it seems that the telecommunications company has already been contacted by private investors with the intention of taking control of it.
The Vodafone subsidiary in Spain is valued at a figure of around 3,700 million euros, and although the British group does not have it for sale, it does seem to be open to listening to offers that come to it and studying them. This is the case of the attempt that the American company has put on the table Apollo Global Management, whose offer could be around 4,000 million dollars.
The situation that Vodafone is going through can lead to the sale of the subsidiary
The group, in the voice of Nick Read, former CEO of Vodafone, assured through various forums that the Spanish subsidiary was not for sale, but the current difficult situation it is going through could give the green light to the sale. Vodafone is immersed in a very high competition process in Spainwhere companies like Telefónica and Orange seem to lead the telecommunications market.
This struggle, more the advance of low-cost companies such as Digi or MásMóvil, have led to Vodafone’s revenues having been reduced, marking a decrease of 16% between the years 2018 and 2022. Vodafone currently registers revenues of 4,200 million euros.
On the other hand, The company’s shares have fallen as much as 60% in the last five years, a fact that has led to the sale of its smaller subsidiaries such as those in Hungary, and a stake in Vantage Towers, its communications tower affiliate.
In addition to the drop in revenue and shares, the situation is aggravated by the departure of managers from its executive leadership, such as CEO Nick Read, the rejection of Xavier Niel’s offer by his Italian unit, the non-achievement by the timing of its merger with Three UK in the United Kingdom, and the lack of an operation to monetize its network. Besides the disagreement in the merger with MásMóvil, Yoigo and Pepephonewhich now seems to join its rival Orange, would lead to leaving the British in a very weakened position within the telecommunications market.
In the same way, they have suffered the setback of the departure of Colman Deegan, CEO of the Spanish subsidiary, a position that has now been awarded to Mário Vaz, manager of the Portuguese subsidiary and now also of the Spanish one. The arrival of Vaz to the Spanish delegation has been very well received by the European CEO, Serpil Timuray, who has said of him that “he is an exceptional leader with a consistent record of service, as well as business growth, generation of shareholder value”.
But the complicated panorama that Vodafone is going through does not end here, now it seems that The British company is also considering laying off a hundred of its staff to reduce costs, a fact that would be the largest carried out in the last five years. The layoffs would lead him to save a total of 1,000 million euros.
Vodafone’s future with its Spanish unit seems to be up in the air, as the company is under pressure from investors who want to simplify the business by getting rid of smaller units in order to revive its share price.
