Nov
23
MADRID Nov 23 Spanish telecoms group Euskaltel
said on Monday it was launching a share issue to help
pay for its 1.19 billion euro ($1.3 billion) acquisition of R
Cable, adding the placement should be completed in coming days.
Basque-based Euskaltel’s purchase of R Cable, which operates
mainly in the northern region of Galicia, marks the latest wave
of consolidation in a Spanish telecoms market where companies
were hurt by the country’s deep recession.
Euskaltel said in a statement it would issue over 25.3
million new shares as part of the planned capital hike, which
combined with new loans and existing cash will be used to
finance the acquisition. The 1.19 billion euro price tag also
includes debt.
The company had previously said the share issue would be
worth 255 million euros, but the price at which shares will be
sold has not yet been determined. Underwriters Citigroup and UBS
are sounding out demand among institutional investors, and the
sale should be completed in coming days.
Corporacion Financiera Alba, a financial holding
group belonging to Spanish investment group March, as well as
Galician-based lender Abanca and some Euskaltel executives, have
already agreed to invest 132.5 million euros between them in the
share issue.
Abanca was already a shareholder in R Cable, while private
equity firm CVC is selling out of the company, in which it held
a 70 percent stake.
The new shares issued by Euskaltel, which listed on the
Spanish stock market in July, will start trading on Nov. 26, the
company said.
($1 = 0.9418 euros)
(Reporting by Sarah White; Editing by David Holmes)
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