Vodafone Portugal announced this Friday that it has reached an agreement for the purchase of the Nowo operator. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval, and Vodafone expects it to be “completed during the first half of 2023”.
In a statement, Vodafone, which did not disclose the amount of the acquisition, explained that “it reached an agreement with Llorca JVCO Limited, a shareholder of Másmóvil Ibercom, SA (‘Másmóvil’), for the purchase of the company Cabonitel SA, owner of Nowo Communications (‘Nowo’)”. EITHER the agreement must be approved by the Competition Authority (AoC), which will request a non-binding opinion from Anacom.
For the CEO of Vodafone Portugal, “The acquisition of Nowo will allow Vodafone to increase its customer base, as well as its fixed network coverage. The future modernization of the network acquired for the new generation of fiber optics will benefit current and future users, by guaranteeing the quality and greater resilience of this infrastructure”.
With 30 years of commercial activity in the Portuguese market, this operation is yet another demonstration of the commitment of Vodafone and its shareholders to the country, and the commitment to the development of an increasingly digital society and business fabric in Portugal”, he stated. outstanding Mario Vaz.
The company explained that the acquisition of the Nowo operation reinforces competitiveness in the market with benefits for current and future clients, as well as for the sector. “It also creates the conditions for more efficient investments in high-speed connectivity networks, as well as in the development of innovative products and services,” reads the note released this Friday.
Vodafone qualified Nowo, in a statement, as the fourth largest converged operator in Portugalwith around 250 thousand mobile service subscribers and 140 thousand fixed access clients (pay TV and broadband) in approximately one million homes covered by its communications infrastructure.
The signing of an agreement to buy Nowo comes after Spanish newspaper Cinco Días learned in June that MásMóvil was rethinking its presence in Portugal, less than three years after acquiring the telecommunications company.
At that time, the same newspaper announced that there were three interested — Macquarie, Digital Bridge and Asterion — in the Nowo operation in Portugal. Cinco Días also spoke of the possibility of an agreement with Vodafone (which was confirmed this Friday) or with Nos.
In 2015, Altice sold Nowo (formerly Cabovisão) and Oni to Aprax França to complete the purchase of Meo (formerly PT). Subsequently, the two operators passed into the hands of the funds of the North American KKR. It was in 2019 when Másmóvil entered the Portuguese market, with the acquisition, together with GAEA, of Cabonitel —owner of Nowo and Oni— from KKR funds.
Altice can buy PT if it sells Cabovisão and Oni
Source: Observadora
