by Andrés González
LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) – Telefonica has admitted Allianz Global Investors and Canadian pension fund CDPQ to the final stages of a tender for part of its rural fiber optic network in Spain, which serves around three million homes in small villages, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
French investment fund Vauban Infrastructure Partners has also been shortlisted to carry out due diligence on the unit, which is valued at more than 2 billion euros, said the sources, who requested anonymity as they are not not authorized to communicate on the subject.
Dutch pension fund PGGM could join forces with Allianz as part of a consortium, another source said, while Vauban could also seek a partner to bid.
Telefonica, Allianz, CDPQ and PGGM declined to comment. Vauban did not respond to a request for comment.
Telefonica, advised by BBVA and AZ Capital, is selling a minority stake of around 45% in the company, which operates in towns with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.
The sale of this stake will allow Telefonica, which is overwhelmed with debt, to free up much-needed cash to finance the deployment of new broadband infrastructure in rural areas of Spain, as well as in Germany and Brazil, where the telecom giant aims to reach 97% market penetration by 2024.
Telefonica has already partnered with Allianz and CDPQ to bring similar fiber optic services to sparsely populated areas in Germany and Brazil, respectively.
Private equity and infrastructure funds have invested heavily in Spain’s fiber optic network, with US fund KKR and European rival Ardian closing deals last year for fiber optic firms Reintel and Adamo, respectively. . (With contributions from Isla Binnie; French version Augustin Turpin, editing by Kate Entringer)