Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, owner of telecoms giant America Movil (AM), is reportedly planning to expand into the Spanish telecoms market by acquiring a controlling stake in domestic mobile operator Xfera Moviles (Yoigo), Hispanidad reports.
Yoigo is majority owned by TeliaSonera of Sweden, which holds a 76.6% stake in the operator, while Spanish infrastructure company ACS Group and construction company Fomento de Construcciones & Contratas SA (FCC) are in possession of 17% and 3% stakes, respectively. Slim holds an indirect 0.75% stake in Yoigo via FCC, following his December 2014 acquisition of 25.6% of the construction company.
In mid-July 2014 TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate reported that TeliaSonera was considering divesting its Spanish unit, saying that ‘forced by a strong convergence trend that puts pressure on [its] mobile-only business’ it had begun a review of its involvement with Yoigo. Previously, AM was said to be interested in bidding for Yoigo in 2012, but TeliaSonera dropped plans to sell its Spanish unit due to a disappointing market response.