The telecoms group Iliad, associated with the investment fund held by its founder Xavier Niel, to buy 19.8% of the Swedish operator Tele2, and become its major shareholder.
The telecoms world has been relatively calm for several months. While inflation continues to plague an increasingly moribund European economy, mobile operators are playing it safe and continuing their activities, without announcing new costly projects. Fortunately, we can always count on Iliad to boost the market. The group, owner of the operator Free and owned by Xavier Niel, no longer hides its ambitions to become a European heavyweight, and is making a series of acquisitions to expand beyond simple French borders. After opening its Free mobile network in Italy, and purchasing the Play operator in Poland, it is now in Sweden and the Baltic countries that Iliad wishes to make its mark.
Iliad becomes the reference shareholder of Tele2
The Iliad group took advantage of the opening of the Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona to announce an acquisition of a stake in the operator Tele2. The latter is one of the leaders in the telecoms sector in Sweden, but also in the Baltic countries.
Iliad does not recover all of the shares, but buys 19.8% of the group’s shares from the Swedish investment company Kinnevik. To do this, the transaction is carried out by Freya Investissement, a specialized investment vehicle jointly owned by Iliad and NJJ Holding, Xavier Niel’s investment fund.
The amount of the transaction is estimated by Iliad at 13 billion Swedish crowns, or approximately 1.16 billion euros. The operation will be carried out in three tranches, and should be completed during the third quarter of 2024, after consultation with the regulatory authorities.
A telecoms market which is consolidating a little more
Once the purchase is completed, Iliad will hold 30% of the voting rights on Tele2’s board of directors, and will be able to influence the operator’s strategy on the Baltic markets. “ This strategic investment offers the Iliad group, through Freya, an opportunity to support Tele2 and its management team in its growth and to work in close collaboration on innovation, convergence and investments in new networks. generation », Specifies Thomas Reynaud, Managing Director of the Iliad Group in a press release.
The telecom operators owned by Xavier Niel, through Iliad or its various holdings, today represent nearly 50 million subscribers and 10 billion euros in turnover. The businessman also recently tried to buy Vodafone Italy, but the operator turned him down.
This new operation is also a new step towards a concentration of operators on European soil. The latter are thus seeking to reduce costs after massive investments in 5G and optical fiber, and better profitability which requires an increase in the prices of different subscriptions in a market less impacted by competition.
Source: Iliad press release
0