Evercore appointed to oversee sale of Vodafone’s Spanish fixed network 

Vodafone has reportedly selected New York-based investment bank Evercore to sell a stake in its Spanish fixed network.

According to Cinco Dias, the process is at an “embryonic stage” but Vodafone is keen to make cost-cutting measures across the continent. It said that a network sale would reduce pressure on Vodafone’s Spanish business. 

The company has struggled to keep up with the transition to 5G across Europe, and is looking to raise funds through a variety of means such as this sale. CEO Nick Read earlier this year said that the company is “actively pursuing” a sale of its Vantage Towers unit in Germany. 

Vodafone earlier this week confirmed talks with CK Hutchison over a merger with UK mobile operator Three. The merged entity would be 51% owned by Vodafone, with Hutchison owning the remaining 49%. 

The new business would combine Britain’s third and fourth-largest networks to create the country’s biggest operator with 27 million customers. This would make it larger than both BT and Virgin Media O2 in terms of subscriber base – though Vodafone-Three would be the outlier without a pay TV offer in the UK.