Proactive Investors - Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:LON:VOD) has signed off on the €8 billion (£6.8 billion) sale of its Italian operations to Swisscom.
The debt-ridden British telecoms multinational initially confirmed talks with Swisscom on a potential sale in February as part of a major overhaul of its European footprint.
"Today, I am announcing the third and final step in the reshaping of our European operations,” remarked Vodafone boss Margherita Della Valle. “Going forward, our businesses will be operating in growing telco markets - where we hold strong positions - enabling us to deliver predictable, stronger growth in Europe.
“This will be coupled with our acceleration in B2B, as we continue to take share in an expanding digital services market.”
Della Valle said the sale of Vodafone Italy “creates significant value for Vodafone and ensures the business maintains its leading position in Italy, which has been built through the dedicated commitment of our colleagues to serving our customers over many years”.
The sale puts a 7.6 times adjusted EBITDA valuation on Vodafone Italy
With £40 billion of debt on the books, Vodafone has been at pains to get rid of the underperforming wings of its business.
As well as exiting Italy, Vodafone is selling its Spanish business to Zegona.
Vodafone is set to receive a €12 billion windfall from exiting Italy and Spain. Della Valle today confirmed that the group will return a third of this to shareholders via buybacks.