Orange no longer interested in acquisitions in Romania

Newsroom 16/09/2014 | 16:36

French telecom group Orange is no longer interested in further acquisitions in other countries after buying a Spanish competitor Jazztel to keep up with the trend to “converged” offers that bundle fixed and mobile services, according to a piece in Reuters.

The statement was made by Orange Chief Executive Stephane Richard after Orange bought Spanish competitor Jazztel.

“We think we are well positioned in most of our markets, and for us we do not need further M&A. Spain was a special case,” said Richard. “In Belgium and Romania, we are working on agreements with local fixed players to address the need for fixed, mobile offers,” he added.

The French telecom group shook hands with Jazztel for the acquisition of the latter’s 100 percent stae at EUR 13 per share in cash, which values Jazztel at EUR 3.4 billion. The acquisition will be financed through a combination of hybrid bonds and a capital increase of up to 2 billion euros at Orange, according to Reuters.

Orange Romania is currently the biggest operator on the Romanian market with revenues of EUR 448.3 million in the first part of the year. On June 30, 2014, Orange had 10,384,000 clients in Romania.