Zegona looks to up presence on Euskaltel board

Cable and telecom investor Zegona Communications will continue to focus on “placing ourselves in the best position to generate additional value from our investment in Euskaltel following purchases of shares that recently saw it emerge as the Spanish cable operator biggest shareholder.

Posting its full-year annual report for 2018, Zegona’s chairman Eamonn O’Hare said that Zegona continues to believe that Euskaltel is “a strategically attractive business with a strong competitive position in its home markets, with a range of opportunities to deliver profitable growth and generate significant positive cash flow”.

O’Hare said that, despite Zegona’s disappoint with “certain aspects of Euskaltel’s performance”, it remains convinced that “there is potential to create significant additional value by driving efficiency improvements, increasing revenue growth in the existing regions and accelerating expansion outside the current footprint”.

Zegona together with is shareholder Talomon Capital now owns just over 21% of Euskaltel, displacing Kutxabank as the northern Spanish operator’s biggest shareholder. O’Hare said he was “confident that we can use our increased ownership position to work constructively with the Euskaltel board of directors and management to improve the performance of the business”.

Following the increase in its shareholding, Zegona hopes to be able to appoint one additional director to Euskaltel’s board, giving it more influence over the company’s direction.