The RRJ Capital fund is studying the possibility of making an offer of around 5,000 million euros for Vodafone’s business in Spain. This was published this Friday by the ‘Bloomberg’ news agency, which confirmed that the venture capital firm led by former Goldman Sachs banker Richard Ong had already obtained financing to formalize the offer for the Spanish subsidiary of Vodafone.

In any case, the published information warns that the final decision has not been made. “Deliberations are ongoing and the RRJ-led group could still decide not to proceed with an agreement, sources said,” the international agency notes.

If this offer is formalized, RRJ would join the handful of funds that have shown interest in Vodafone Spain since May. It was in that month when the CEO of Vodafone, Marguerita Della Valle, announced with great fanfare that “the business in Spain was under strategic review due to the deterioration of financial results and the negative dynamics of the Spanish market,” according to the words that spoke before the shareholders in the presentation of results.

Della Valle explained that not only was the sale of the Spanish division being studied but that all possibilities were being studied to maximize the value. The truth is that since that moment there have been several funds that have approached Vodafone to test a corporate operation.

Officially, only the Zegona fund has recognized its interest, although the names of other possible buyers have also emerged, such as Apollo, Apax, Iliad or Liberty.

The Vodafon subsidiary in Spain with the Portuguese Mario Vaz at the head maintains absolute silence regarding any corporate operation since they assure that this is a matter for the London headquarters and that when there is a formal offer it will be communicated.

Industry experts explain this type of news as “the logical interest of many investors in finding out about an asset for sale.” But they rule out that there may be any movement before Brussels decides on the merger between Orange and Más Móvil that many describe as “imminent.” “The entire sector depends on that decision. If the requirements to allow it (remedies) are very high or not, we will be able to see an interest from community and foreign investors to position themselves in a sector open to mergers in which they can gain value from future mergers or quite the opposite,” they point out.

In that sense, it is worth remembering that Vodafone has around 13 million mobile customers in Spain, 3 million fiber and 1.5 million television customers, which adds up to a fiber network valued at around 4,000 million euros. . Furthermore, its turnover is around 4,000 million euros annually and the gross operating profit (Ebitda) is around 950 million euros.

Vodafone has around 13 million mobile customers in Spain, 3 million fiber and 1.5 million television customers, which adds up to a fiber network valued at around 4,000 million euros. Furthermore, its turnover is around 4,000 million euros annually and the gross operating profit (Ebitda) is around 950 million euros.

For RRJ Capital the company is no stranger, in 2021 it invested €500 million in Vantage Towers, Vodafone’s European mobile tower unit, and still has a stake of almost 3% in the company.