Zegona sells Teletable in €701m cash, shares deal to Euskaltel

Zegona Communications has sold Spanish cable business Teletable to Euskaltel for a total of €701m.

This included an enterprise value of €686m and €15m deferred payment. It said the EV included €186.5m cash and 26.8m shares in Euskaltel, equating to 15% ownership.

"When we acquired Telecable in 2015, we identified the opportunity for substantial value creation through the combination of the 3 independent Northern Spanish Cablecos," said chairman and CEO Eamonn O'Hare.

He said the deal with Euskaltel turns that vision into reality, generating very attractive returns for shareholders and providing the opportunity for significant additional value gain.

"We look forward to working closely with the Euskaltel Board and senior management team to help close the company's current valuation gap and assist in defining the next exciting chapter of Euskaltel's development," he said.

Zegona continued to see many attractive opportunities across the broader European TMT landscape.

"Completing this transaction will allow us to bring increased focus to Zegona's search for the next investment where we can again apply our proven "Buy-Fix-Sell" strategy."

At 12:28 BST, shares in Zegona were up 9.09% to 156p each.