The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, considers that the decision to order SEPI to purchase up to 10% of Telefónica is “strategic” and has been understood by the markets.
In an interview with RAC1, he also assured that the movement “has to do with digital transformation and that telecommunications are now closely connected to security, defense, cybersecurity and the development of the entire digital economy.”
He has also insisted on the argument already raised by the Government that the surrounding countries have a State presence in their large telecommunications operators. According to SEPI itself to justify the movement, Germany has 13.8% of Deutsche Telekom, France 13.4% of Orange and Italy is expected to reach 20% of the company that brings together Telecom’s fixed telephony assets. Italy.
“If you look at the nearby economies, the German, French or Italian, there is a significant participation of the State in these operators,” Sánchez assured in the program ‘El món a RAC1’.
He has also denied that the purchase is “a response to other movements in other countries”, alluding to Saudi Telecom’s investment in Telefónica, in which the Arab group is pending requesting permission to increase its stake from 5% to 9.9. %.
The operation “is good” and “has been well understood by the markets seeing the movement of the stock market in the last few hours,” stated the President of the Government. “It is very important, but strategic,” he added.
Telefónica shares closed yesterday’s session with a rise of 3.2%, but at times they shot up to 7%. This Thursday they are trading slightly lower, with a decline of 0.6%, bringing their capitalization to around 20.9 billion euros, 400 million euros more before the Government’s announcement that the State will become a shareholder.
