Telefonica Group and Credit Agricole Assurances, and Vauban Infrastructure Partners have reached an agreement to set up Bluevia Fibra for the deployment of a fiber network (FTTH) in Spain, mainly in rural areas.
CAA-Vauban consortium will buy 45 percent stake in Bluevia from Telefonica Spain for €1.021 billion in cash. The transaction will be valuing Bluevia at €2.5 billion, representing a multiple of 27.1x over the company’s estimated OIBDA for 2022.
Telefonica Group will retain 55 percent stake in Bluevia and CAA/Vauban will retain the remaining 45 percent. The 55 percent stake owned by Telefonica will be held by Telefonica Spain and Telefonica Infra, with 30 percent and 25 percent stakes respectively.
Bluevia, a neutral wholesale company, will manage and deploy a fibre network in low populated rural areas in Spain and low overbuild with third operator’s networks. Bluevia will offer wholesale FTTH access to all telecommunication services providers.
Bluevia will increase its network to 5 million premises by 2024 from the initial footprint of 3.5 million premises currently passed acquired from Telefonica Spain.
These 3.5 million premises to be sold to Bluevia represent 13 percent of Telefonica’s FTTH network in Spain, while Telefonica Spain retains full ownership of the rest of the network.
Emilio Gayo, Telefonica Spain Chairman, said: “This project will allow Telefonica to remain the leader in fibre and will be a key lever to accelerate the deployment in rural areas as we continue to move forward in our commitment to shut down the retail copper network.”
The transaction is subject to obtaining the authorizations from the regulatory authorities and the closing is expected by the end of 2022.
