Business
EU Clears FiberPass Transaction
Zegona Communications plc announced that the EU Commission has cleared AXA's acquisition of a 40% stake in FiberPass, allowing the transaction to proceed to completion by the end of March 2026. Vodafone Spain will receive €0.4bn in upfront proceeds, with €0.2bn allocated to a share buyback program and the remaining €0.2bn for debt reduction, positioning the business to achieve a net debt of €3.2bn by the financial year-end and reinforcing Zegona's leverage target. Following the AXA investment, FiberPass's ownership will be 55% Telefónica, 40% AXA, and 5% Vodafone Spain. Disclaimer*
About this update from Zegona Communications Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\n\n17 February 2026\n\n\nLEI: 213800ASI1VZL2ED4S65\n\n\n\n\n \nZegona Communications plc\nEU Clears FiberPass Transaction\nZegona is pleased to announce that on 13 February 2026 the EU Commission confirmed that the acquisition by AXA1 of a 40% stake in FiberPass2 announced on 24th November 2025, is not subject to notification requirements under the merger regulation and can proceed to completion. Completion is expected to take place before the end of March 2026.\nIn March 2025 FiberPass started operations, with an ownership split of 63% Telefónica and 37% Vodafone Spain. FiberPass covers 3.7 million premises across Spain and provides the highest quality fibre-to-the-home (\"FTTH\") services for 1.4 million Vodafone Spain and Telefónica customers. Vodafone Spain will use FiberPass to provide services to its existing and future retail and wholesale customers within the FiberPass footprint. \nVodafone Spain will generate up front proceeds of €0.4bn from this transaction. The ownership of FiberPass after the AXA investment will be 55% Telefónica, 40% AXA and 5% Vodafone Spain.\n€0.2bn of the proceeds will be used to fund the share buyback programme announced on 27 November 2025. \nThe remaining €0.2bn will be used for debt reduction and puts the business in a good position to deliver net debt of only €3.2bn by the end of our financial year, March 2026. This reinforces Zegona's commitment to its leverage target of 1.5X - 2X and further accelerates progress in reducing total annual interest costs3.\nEamonn O'Hare, Chairman and CEO of Zegona, commented, \"The AXA investment completes our transformation of Vodafone Spain's fixed network strategy. The combination of FiberPass and PremiumFiber will give guaranteed access to a future-proof, all fibre, national network with attractive economic terms. This transaction will also deliver significant proceeds which will help drive returns to Zegona shareholders through our share buyback programme, a step change in net debt reduction and an acceleration in reducing total annual interest costs.\"\n \n \nFor further information, please contact:\n \n\n\n\n\n For investor enquiries:\n\n\nFor media enquiries:\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n Alfonso Enríquez\n\n\nJaime De Andres\n\n\nTilly Abraham (Sodali & Co)\n\n\n\n\n [email protected]\n\n\njai...