Orange makes €3.4 billion bid for Spain’s Jazztel

Orange has made a €3.4 billion cash offer to buy 100% of Spanish telco Jazztel, in an effort to establish itself as the second biggest fixed-line broadband operator in Spain. 

Orange said the deal would allow it to accelerate its growth in a highly-competitive market and help it to move its customers towards convergent offers.

The €13 per-share offer marks a 34% premium on Jazztel’s average closing shareprice over the past 30 days and values Jazztel at €3.4 billion.

The offer is conditional on the approval of 50.01% of Jazztel’s capital shareholders and has already won the approval of 14.5% capital shareholder Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals and has the backing of CEO José Miguel Garcia Fernandez and general secretary José Ortiz Martinez.

The takeover will also be subject to approval by the Spanish Securities Commission and the UK Takeover Panel on Takeovers and Mergers in the UK.