BT streamlining continues with sale of Spanish managed services

UK telecoms group BT is in the middle of a major streamlining operation and the latest casualty is its Spanish managed ICT services business.UK telecoms group BT is in the middle of a major streamlining operation and the latest casualty is its Spanish managed ICT services business. The business is part of BT’s Global Services unit, which is the main focus of the current restructuring programme. Earlier this year BT raised around €100 million by flogging some Dutch infrastructure and this Spanish operation includes some infrastructure too. It’s being snapped up by Portobello Capital as private equity continues to show increased interest in telecoms infrastructure. “Today’s announcement is another key milestone in the execution of our strategy to make Global a more agile and customer focused business,” said Bas Burger, CEO of BT Global. “The transaction is great for BT, for our people and for our customers. Through agreements with the Spanish business, it provides continuity to both our multinational and local customers. It also enables us to focus on what we do best: providing secure connectivity and digital solutions to multinational companies globally.” “We are very pleased to invest in one of the leading providers of managed telecommunications services to the corporate market in Spain,” said Luis Peñarrocha, a founding partner of Portobello Capital. “We look forward to continued investment in the development of the business for the benefit of new and existing customers in the region.” The price of the transaction wasn’t disclosed, but the business turns over nearly a quarter of a billion pounds a year so we must be talking serious cash. Assets in the transaction include a 5,600 km owned and leased optical fibre network, fully owned city fibre networks in Barcelona and Madrid and three data centres.