Telefonica places 258.7m shares in German unit at EUR5.60 each

Spanish telecoms group Telefonica has set the issue price for the sale of shares in its German business in the bottom half of its indicative range at EUR5.60 (USD7.2) per share, the company announced in a press release. In total 258.75 million shares were placed with investors, including 33.75 million over-allotted shares granted to the underwriters in what is known as a ‘greenshoe option’. Approximately 99% of the total number of shares was allotted to institutional investors. Upon full exercise of the greenshoe option, the placement volume will amount to EUR1.449 billion and the free float will be 23.17%. ‘We are very pleased with the strong demand for our shares,’ commented CEO of Telefonica Deutschland, Rene Schuster, adding: ‘Our proposition to investors, of a strong strategic positioning, solid growth, and an attractive dividend, has been a success.’ Telefonica, which is struggling to cut its debt burden amid falling revenue and profit in its domestic market, announced in May this year that it was launching preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) of its German unit and said it was also considering potential listings of businesses in Latin America, accelerating the disposal process of non-core assets. The shares of Telefonica Deutschland will be traded for the first time on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange today (30 October 2012) under the ticker symbol O2D.