Orange, which already has a Spanish unit, announced its plan to purchase Jazztel in September 2014, but only received approval from European regulators in May 2015 after it agreed to make concessions.
The Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) said shareholders representing 94.75% of Jazzztel’s total share capital have accepted Orange’s offer of €13 per share. This represents a disbursement of €3.179 billion for Orange, which is expected to be settled on July 1 2015.
Shares in Jazztel will stop trading from the Spanish Stock Exchanges after Aug 13 2015. Orange plans to merge its Spanish unit with Jazztel and then list part of the merged entity on the Madrid stock exchange.
“Orange is very satisfied with this result, which will enable Orange Spain and Jazztel to build together the most dynamic convergent player on the Spanish market,” said the company.
“By gaining control of Jazztel, the Orange Group will benefit from the expected synergies resulting from the merger. Orange will now focus on the successful operational integration of both companies.”
The acquisition of Jazztel’s 1.5 million broadband subscribers will enable Orange to better compete with Telefonica and Vodafone.
Vodafone acquired Spanish cable operator Ono in a €7.2 billion deal in March 2014.
