Telefónica and Pontegadea consolidate their alliance in Telxius Telecom to strengthen their commitment to submarine cables, an asset that has proved critical during the pandemic and whose contribution will be equally fundamental in the development of the new digital era. The two partners are increasing their stake in Telxius Telecom, a global telecommunications infrastructure company, by acquiring a 40% stake in Telxius Telecom, previously held by KKR.
With this transaction, Telefónica will increase its stake to 70% and Pontegadea will increase its stake to 30%. The acquisition is carried out for an estimated amount of €215.7 million, pending, among others, the corresponding adjustments derived from the sale of Telxius’ tower business to American Tower in 2021.
Telxius Telecom has one of the largest and most promising cable networks in the world. It is an international network of high-capacity submarine fibre optic cables, which extends 94,000 kilometres and includes new generation systems as Marea, Brusa and Mistral, as well as SAm-1, the system that connects the United States with Latin America since 2000, among others.
The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory and competition approvals.
Bird & Bird advised Pontegadea with a team formed by Real Estate partner and co-head of the firm´s Madrid office Isidro del Moral González, assisted by Corporate/M&A of counsel Santiago Lardiés Nogales and Corporate M&A associate Julieta Bermúdez de la Puente Morros- Sardá. Competition associate Candela Sotés Macaya, partner and co-head of the Brussels Competition practice José Rivas and Regulatory counsel Víctor Horcajuelo also advised on this deal.
Garrigues advised with a team including executive chairman Fernando Vives, M&A partner Álvaro López-Jorrín , EU & Antitrust partner Susana Cabrera and Tax partner Rafael Calvo, together with principal associates Fernando Las Navas and Javier Valderrama.
Uría Menéndez advised with a team made up of M&A/Private Equity partner Manuel Echenique, Tax partner David López Pombo, along with M&A/private Equity senior associate Guillermo del Río and Tax senior associate Adrià Riba.
