Vodafone continues to have the door open to a possible sale and, to the candidates that were already in play, another name has just been added. The international press confirms the entry of another possible buyer whose valuation offer could be estimated at an amount of 5,000 million euros.
As you surely know, the fate of Vodafone is still unknown. A few months ago, during the spring, the operator made the decision to open all fronts. They said that they were open to any type of possibility that appeared to evaluate it and see what the future would be like. At that time, they clearly stated that the sale was a real possibility.
A new purchasing option
The information circulating on the network originally comes from Bloomberg, where they claim to have sources with internal knowledge of the operation. This is how they reveal that the new player that could become the owner of Vodafone would be a consortium made up of different entities, but in which RRJ Capital has the greatest relevance. This entity is a fund that took its first steps in 2011 and has its headquarters in Singapore and Hong Kong.
The fund has investments spread throughout the world, and it is important to highlight that, as they reveal on their website, they have capital management of 10 billion dollars. Taking these figures into account, it would not be surprising if they could be interested, within the consortium they lead, in acquiring Vodafone. According to the information published, right now the group would be in the process of forming a strategy that would allow them to gather the necessary financing to carry out the purchase. After all, with the aforementioned value of 5,000 million, it is logical that they have to prepare the operation thoroughly.
The fate of Vodafone
There are many names that sound like possible candidates for the purchase of Vodafone. A short time ago, representatives of the operator’s management had a meeting with the European Committee of unions and different topics were discussed. One of them was the interest that Vodafone Spain was arousing among different potential buyers. During the meeting, the plans that the operator has in our country were discussed and aspects such as those that had been appearing in the press in the previous weeks were discussed. Among other things, the board confirmed that they were open to listening to offers for a possible sale that, however, would benefit the company so that it could continue its growth and that there would be fewer customer churns.
At that time the possibility of carrying out a sale solely of the business that Vodafone dedicates to the fixed network also came to the fore, although for now there is nothing official. We must not forget that, with the situation of the merger of MásMóvil and Orange on everyone’s lips, Vodafone could act in one way or another based on how the market moves. This is a period of time of certain instability, but one in which Vodafone is surfing with resources that it has incorporated with the intention of keeping the business going without suffering any consequences. That is why, for example, the operator has incorporated a new CEO this year who is leading the entity while waiting to see what definitively happens.
Some of the names that are rumored to be possible buyers of Vodafone include Zegona, with whom Vodafone has had the most contact and which had more presence in the headlines, Apollo Global Management, and, among others, Warburg Pincus. To these we must now add RRJ Capital, which has a peculiarity that differentiates it from the rest: it already has a connection with Vodafone.
The reason for this is the investment they made in Vodafone’s subsidiary dedicated to towers, an entity known as Vantage Towers. This happened in 2021 and, although there have been movements on the stock market since then, the Asian company still retains 3% ownership of the Vodafone business. Although it doesn’t have to be something that ends up weighing you down, it is an interesting detail to take into account.
