Xavier Niel can feast on European telco misery
27/03/2023 12:57
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are her own.)
By Pamela Barbaglia
LONDON, March 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The French
tycoon has assembled a privately owned telecoms empire worth
about $33 bln, Breakingviews calculates. Behind the scenes he’s
manoeuvring to further spread his wings. Purchases of stakes in
Vodafone and Luxembourg-based Millicom signal the scale of his
ambition.
Full view will be published shortly.
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CONTEXT NEWS
French telecoms group Iliad, controlled by billionaire
Xavier Niel, on March 16 reported that revenue had increased by
10% to 8.4 billion euros last year amid heavy investments and
expansion in Italy and Poland.
CEO Thomas Reynaud said in a conference call that Iliad
wanted to be part of any consolidation in Italy. Vodafone last
year rebuffed Iliad’s 11 billion euro proposal to combine the
two companies’ businesses in the country.
Niel on Feb. 24 raised his stake in Luxembourg-based
telecoms firm Millicom International Cellular to 20% through his
investment vehicle Atlas Investissement. Niel first bought 7% of
Millicom in November and subsequently hiked his holding.
Millicom, which operates in Latin America, has drawn takeover
interest from buyout firm Apollo Global Management and former
SoftBank executive Marcelo Claure, who value it at about $10
billion, the Financial Times reported on Jan. 25.
In September 2022 Niel disclosed a 2.5% stake in Vodafone,
saying his investment vehicle Atlas was supportive of the UK
company’s intention to pursue consolidation opportunities and
its efforts to separate its infrastructure network. Liberty
Global subsequently bought about 5% of Vodafone while Abu
Dhabi’s e& hiked its stake to 14%.
(Editing by Peter Thal Larsen and Oliver Taslic)
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