The board of directors of Telefonica has opened discussions on the possible sale of part of its fixed line network in Spain with a view to lowering debt and increasing the company's stock market value, according to unnamed company sources cited by El Confidencial. Concern about the downward trajectory of Telefonica’s stock market value, which is down 9 percent this year alone and has fallen 25.76 percent since Cesar Alierta appointed Jose María Alvarez-Pallete as chairman in March 2016, has prompted some directors to propose selling part of the company’s infrastructure network, the largest in Europe, said the report.
Telefonica has invested some EUR 3 billion in the last two years to expand its fibre-optic network to around 20 million homes and last year sold 40 percent of its submarine cable and tower unit Telxius to private equity firm KKR for EUR 1.275 billion. A number of infrastructure funds have expressed an interest in Telefonica’s fibre network and some directors believe that a partial sale would allow the company to more aggressively cut a level of debt its chairman has recognised as high and bring in a partner to share forthcoming investment, said the report.
The operator recently reached the milestone of 20 million Spanish households with fibre-optic connections, the largest FTTH network in Europe, around 6 years after it started to roll of the technology.
