PARIS-After weeks of speculation, France Telecom said its Orange SA wireless subsidiary will spend $7.7 billion to buy 80 percent of the third-largest wireless carrier in Spain. The acquisition of 80 percent of Auna Operadora de Telecommunicaciones S.A., which owns 97.9 percent of Retevision Movil S.A., a mobile operator under the trade name Amena, will be paid in cash.
The deal will be refinanced in shares for $3.6 billion through a capital increase reserved for and subscribed to by the vendors or through a public offering of shares to be preferably subscribed by its shareholders. The transaction is expected to be accretive in free cash flow per share and net income per share before amortization of goodwill after 12 months, the French company said.
The remaining Amena shares will be held by Santander, Union Fenosa and Endesa and other minority shareholders.
France Telecom said the buy follows its objectives under the Next strategy, which aims to see the carrier become an integrated European operator.
“The acquisition of Amena comes less than a month after the launch of Next,” said France Telecom Chief Executive Officer Didier Lombard. “It provides a significant contribution to our program for development and growth in Europe. … The merger of France Telecom España and Amena confirms our strategy as an integrated European operator and allows us to accelerate the implementation of the Next plan.”
Amena had 9.7 million mobile customers with 24-percent market share in Spain at end-June. The carrier competes with market leader Telefonica Moviles and Vodafone Spain. All three carriers offer W-CDMA services. Amena also has 2 million fixed-line and Internet customers.
