Vodafone Spain and MasOrange joint fibre venture confirmed

We reported on the comprehensive leak yesterday, the purpose of which is unclear. Maybe is was a proper leak, as opposed to a controlled, deliberate one, for once. Or maybe it was a way of providing more information than they’re officially allowed to.

All we got from today’s press release is that a new joint venture organisation is being created. Newly merged MasOrange will own half of it but Vodafone Spain, which also indulged in some M&A fun recently, will only get 10%. That’s because MasOrange is bringing much more to the JV and the remaining 40% is going to be owned by some shadowy, anonymous third-party investor. It will provide fibre to 11.5 million premises on behalf of both companies.

We only know that much thanks to the Zegona (the new owner of Voda Spain) press release, with the MasOrange one being especially thin. Neither confirm the enterprise value, nor the investment partner, nor what the latter will pay for their piece of the action. Zegona, at least, managed a canned quote.

“Creating this new FibreCo in partnership with MasOrange is a key part of our plan to transform Vodafone Spain,” said Eamonn O’Hare CEO of Zegona. “It will deliver a highly efficient fibre infrastructure for our customers with leading fixed line technology which will be at the forefront of the industry. The proposed transaction is expected to create significant incremental value for all Zegona stakeholders. We will have more news to share as we progress the transaction to completion.”

We should think so too, Eamonn. For the time being, they’re somewhat inevitably calling the new JV FibreCo, intriguingly using the English, rather than American or Spanish spellings of fibre. Ultimately, this is as much about taking a bit of debt off the books of both companies, with that debt effectively being sold to the investor. The telecoms industry is consolidating fast in Spain.