Press release

Orange and MASMOVIL complete transaction to form the leading operator in Spain in terms of customers - Seite 2

Jean François Fallacher, CEO of Orange France, has been appointed non-executive Chairman of the new company. Jean François, who was previously CEO of Orange Spain between September 2020 and April 2023, has extensive experience of the Spanish market.

The Board of Directors of the Joint Venture has also confirmed the appointment of Meinrad Spenger, CEO of MASMOVIL since 2006, as CEO, and Alberto Castañeda as Secretary of the Board of Directors. Ludovic Pech and Germán López have also been confirmed as CFO and COO, respectively.

“It is a huge honour and an enormous responsibility to serve our more than 30 million customers in Spain. We are going to try hard to ensure that they continue to be the most satisfied clients in our country. With our JV, the Spanish telecom market has now a stronger company with the capacity to innovate and invest and to serve our clients in the residential and business segment as their trustful partner,” said Meinrad Spenger, CEO of the JV.

Christel Heydemann, CEO of Orange, said “Today’s announcement is an important stepping-stone in the deployment of Orange’s long-term strategic plan in Europe. By creating a stronger

and more sustainable player, the joint venture launched today will help drive innovation and investment in high-speed broadband and digital services in Spain. This is clearly a positive step forward in our overall vision for a strong and thriving telecoms industry in Europe.” 

The advisory teams for the parties include:

• Lead financial advisors: Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE to MASMOVIL and Lazard Frères to Orange.
• Lead debt advisor: BNP Paribas.
• Joint rating advisors: BNP Paribas and Société Générale.
• Freshfields to MASMOVIL and Jones Day to Orange, as legal M&A advisors.
• Freshfields, Latham and Watkins, Perez Llorca and Gide, as competition law advisors.
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, together with Evergreen Legal, as legal counsel to the Borrowers, for all financing matters related to the transaction, and Linklaters as legal counsel to the Lenders.
• PWC to MASMOVIL and EY to Orange, as Due Diligence partners.
• Also acted as financial advisors to MASMOVIL: BNP Paribas, Evercore, JP Morgan and Santander.
• Also acted as joint debt advisor: Rothschild & Co.

For more information: see previous press release.