Red Eléctrica Corporación SA (REC) announced on 12 February that it had reached a deal with Hispasat’s majority shareholder, Abertis Infraestructuras SA (Abertis), to purchase its 89.68 per cent stake for EUR€949m (US$1.07bn).
Corporate logo of Hispasat. Courtesy of Hispasat
REC is a public limited company with minority state ownership centred on its primary business as provider and operator of the Spanish national power gird. The company also has international infrastructure concerns in countries such as Portugal, Peru and Chile. REC has expanded its scope to management of the dark fibre network within Spain.
As with the recent Abertis purchase of Eutelsat’s stake in the company, this deal with have to be approved by the Spanish government. Despite this, REC still expects the purchase to take place during Q2 2019. Once approved, Hispasat will become part of REC’s subsidiary, Red Eléctrica Sistemas de Telecomunicaciones (RESTEL). The purchase is not expected to affect the minority holdings in Hispasat. This means the ownership structure of the company following the transaction is expected to be: REC (89.68 per cent), SEPI (7.41 per cent) and CDTI (2.91 per cent).
Corporate logo of Red Eléctrica Corporación (REC). Courtesy of REC