Swisscom announced Friday it is buying Vodafone Italia for 8 billion euros ($8.7 billion) and will merge the company with its Italian subsidiary Fastweb, in the latest round of consolidation in Europe.
The acquisition follows the merger of France’s Orange’s Spanish unit with rival MasMovil, which was approved earlier this week. Vodafone sold its Spanish business to Zegona Communications last October.
Swisscom, controlled by the Swiss government, said the deal with Vodafone Italia would be financed by debt and paid in cash.
Vodafone said it would return 4 billion euros of capital to shareholders and halve its dividend to 4.5 euro cents per share from the 2025 financial year, following the deal in Italy and the sale of its Spanish business.
The agreement with Swisscom will create the second fixed broadband operator in Italy, behind only Telecom Italia, with a strong presence in the business segment, and a leader in mobile telephony.
This comes at a time when telecoms operators have struggled to achieve returns on capital in recent years, while Swisscom – Switzerland’s dominant operator – has operated with almost flat revenue growth.
Source: Terra
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