Zegona, an investment vehicle set up by former Virgin Media finance director Eamonn O'Hare, has reached an agreement to acquire Spanish regional broadband operator Telecable from Carlyle Group and Liberbank for an enterprise value of EUR 640 million. In a statement Zegona said it expected to close the deal by mid-August and that it would fund the acquisition with a combination of GBP 251 million of new equity, backed by institutional investors, funds from its recent float and a new debt facility arranged by Goldman Sachs. At Zegona’s launch in March, O'Hare said the company had been set up to buy and run businesses in the European technology, media and telecoms sector, and had already identified about 70 potential targets.
The deal for Telecable, present in the northern Spanish region of Asturias, comes just a few days after Euskaltel, operating in the Basque Country, agreed to purchase rival cable provider R, operating in Galicia, for EUR 1.16 billion. Telecable has around 162,000 residential and business customers in Asturias and posted revenues of EUR 131 million and EBITDA of EUR 63 million in 2014. O'Hare described the Spanish operator as a “strategically strong business with considerable opportunity for top line growth and returns,” adding that it fitted perfectly with Zedona’s goals. "By leveraging our Virgin Media heritage, we will make Telecable a fierce competitor which delivers for customers and shareholders," he said.
