CNMC OKs Zegona’s Vodafone acquisition
February 2, 2024
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Spanish regulatory body CNMC has given its go-ahead to the acquisition of Vodafone Spain by the UK’s Zegona, a deal valued at €5 billion, ruling that the consolidation “does not significantly modify the structure of the affected markets”. With ithe green light, along with the EU’s blessing, Zegona now faces the government’s approval, to be delivered soon, thus meeting the legal obligation for permission when a foreign company holds more than 5 per cent (in this case it is 10 per cent) in a Spanish firm.“Activities from both parties are not overlapped neither horizontally nor vertically in Spain as Zegona is not currently present in the Spanish market,” argued CNMC in approving the operation. In the past, Zegona was present in Spain when it bought cable operator Telecable in 2015 for €640 million – but then sold the majority of stakes to Euskaltel in 2017 for €700 million. The company kept a 15 per cent stake, though in the new operator, then raising it to 21.4 per cent until the acquisition of Euskaltel by MásMóvil in 2021 when it received €428 million for those shares.