Virgin Mobile is preparing to enter the Spanish market through what would be a partial take-over of the Basque cable operator Euskaltel by the venture capital firm Zegona.
According to El Economista, this will require Zegona to increase its share in Euskaltel from 15% to 29.9%.
Zegona launched a bid to do so late last week, offering €206.3 million for 26.6 million shares, equivalent to 14.9% of the capital. Should it succeed, Euskaltel, already the leading cable in northern Spain following its takeover of R (in Galicia) and Telecable (Asturias), is likely to be developed into a national cable operator, competing with Vodafone’s Ono.
Zegona has close links with Virgin, being headed by former executives, and would then introduce the Virgin brand in Spain.
Virgin had earlier been interested in entering the Spanish market through Yoigo, though the company was eventually sold by TeliaSonera to MasMovil for €612 million.
Source: https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2018/10/22/virgin-to-enter-spain-through-euskaltel/