Telefónica is studying as part of the new strategic plan that it will present in November the sale of part of the subsidiary Telefónica Tech, in which it concentrates the services of cyber security, cloud, internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain .
According to Bloomberg, the company has already met with several investment funds to probe their interest in this subsidiary, whose value may be close to 2,000 million euros. Telefónica sources do not comment on this eventual partial divestment.
The Tech division was created as part of the company’s strategic plan presented in 2019 and, practically from the moment that the technology assets were grouped in 2021 and the segregation process was closed, the rumors have been going around on the sale or IPO.
The forecast is that Telefónica will make an announcement about this subsidiary on November 8, at the Investors day it plans to hold to publicize the new strategy until 2026.
The sources consulted indicate that this possible divestment is not related to the entry into the capital of Saudi Telecom.
Despite the activity in a business as sensitive as cyber security, in which there are contracts with the Ministry of Defense, any sale of Tech would not exempt Saudi Telecom from seeking permission from the Spanish Government to exercise voting rights for the 9.9%. The Spanish technology company has other strategic business areas, beyond Tech.
On the other hand, if this operation were to take place, the possible partial sale of this division would not be immediate.
In the first half of the year, according to Telefónica’s latest accounts, the Tech area brought in 885 million euros, 40% more than in the same period of the previous year.
Tech’s clients include large multinationals such as Microsoft and Amazon. It also develops solutions in artificial intelligence, one of the areas with the most technological potential.
