Swisscom is in talks to buy Vodafone Italia for €8 billion – Kommersant

Swiss telecommunications company Swisscom is at an advanced stage of negotiations to buy the Italian unit of the British Vodafone Group. According to Vodafonethe parties agreed on the amount of the transaction, which could tentatively amount to €8 billion. At the same time, the parties emphasize that there is no final agreement yet and it is not a fact that the deal will ultimately be concluded.

Vodafone Group is the largest telecommunications company in Europe and Africa with 300 million customers in 17 countries. In recent years, the group has been striving to simplify the structure of its assets. Over the past few months, Vodafone has been looking for a buyer for its Italian unit. Of all the contenders for this asset, in the end only Swisscom remained; Vodafone refused all other offers.

A year earlier, the company had already agreed to sell its Spanish division for €4.1 billion to Zegona Communications. And then an agreement was reached to merge in the UK with the operator Three of CK Hutchinson. Both transactions are still being reviewed by regulators.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Swisscom plans to merge Vodafone Italia with its Italian unit Fastweb, which could lead to some restructuring of the telecommunications market in Italy, where the level of competition is among the highest in Europe. If the companies do merge, Italy will have the second largest fixed broadband operator with a significant presence in the business segment. Vodafone shares are up almost 3% today on the London Stock Exchange. Swisscom shares are down just under 1% in Switzerland.

Alena Miklashevskaya