In its statement, the company said the strategic options include, among others, a potential Initial Public Offering.
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Chairman Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete also said the company would decide in the next few weeks whether it would hold a partial sale or an IPO for O2.
Last May, the European Union’s regulator blocked a $15 billion takeover of O2 by CK Hutchison, citing concerns the deal would have stifled innovation and led to higher prices for consumers. “We could objectively do either one of the two things by year’s end. We don’t have the obligation to list or sell at any price”. Telefonica executives have been weighing their options for O2 since the sale was blocked in May.
“Telefonica has established Telxius as a standalone company with the objective of more effectively capturing the value from operators’ use of the infrastructure to satisfy the significant telecommunication data traffic growth expects over the next years”, said Telefonica, in a statement on Monday.
Telefonica reported a net profit of 1.24 billion euros in the first half of 2016, a 42.1 percent drop from the same time a year ago.
Despite debt concerns, the company’s annual dividend of 75 cents (84 US cents) a share is sustainable, Pallete said.
In July, Telefonica kept its target of net debt to Oibda at 2.35 for “the mid-term”, compared with 3.2 at the end of June.
Telefonica aims to list Telxius during the second half of 2016 and the free float will be at least 25 percent, it said in a filing to Spain’s stock market regulator. “In the coming weeks we will decide if it will involve a listing or the entry of new shareholders in O2 United Kingdom”.
Telxius’s listing, which will take place during the second half of the year, is part of its plan to cut its 53 billion euros ($59.23 billion) of debt after Europe’s antitrust watchdog blocked the sale of O2 United Kingdom earlier this year.
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