Zegona Communications (LSE:ZEG) PLC announced the completion of a tender offer that will see the return of £329.3mln to its shareholders after the company sold its investment in Spain’s Euskaltel to Masmovil.
The ‘buy-fix-sell’ company, which is focused on the European telecoms, media and technology (TMT) sector, said around 218.2mln Zegona shares were tendered at a price of £1.535 each.
"Today we are delighted to return £329.3 million of cash to our investors that is the final step of our successful strategy in Spain, which has seen our shareholders receiving a return of more than 92% on their Net Invested Capital,“ said Eamonn O'Hare, Zegona's chairman and chief executive.
“We are already actively working on other potential investment opportunities within the European TMT industry which we believe remains fertile ground to once again create significant shareholder value."
In a separate statement, Marwyn Value Investors Ltd (LSE:MVI) (MVIL) said it tendered 98.2% of its Zegona shareholding in the offer, generating proceeds of £45.4mln attributable to its ordinary shares and £6.7mln attributable to its realisation shares.
As it has already returned in excess of the 50% of net capital gains set out in its distribution policy, ordinary shareholders will not receive any cash return from the Zegona tender offer.
Completion of the tender offer represents a 1.4x cash multiple and 8.1% internal rate of return (IRR) for the Marwyn funds over the life of the investment to date, valuing the residual holding in Zegona at the same value as the tender offer price, MVIL said.
Mark Brangstrup Watts, managing partner of Marwyn Investment Management LLP, commented: "The sale of Euskaltel represents completion of Zegona's 'Buy-fix-sell' strategy in Spain. The offer by Masmovil to acquire Euskaltel pays testament to the success of their strategy over the last 6 years. "