Zegona weighs sale of Vodafone Spain data centers

Buyout firm Zegona Communications Plc is considering a sale of the five data centers that came along with its purchase of Vodafone Group Plc’s unit in Spain, according to people familiar with the matter.

Vodafone Spain — which retained the British carrier’s brand but is fully owned by Zegona — has discussed a possible sale with advisers, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. The portfolio could be valued at about €100 million ($117 million), according to the people.

No decision has been made and the company could still choose to keep the assets. A press officer for Vodafone Spain declined to comment.

Zegona acquired the unit in late 2023 and has been looking to turn around the business, which has struggled to compete in recent years with larger rivals MasOrange and Telefonica SA, as well as Digi Communications NV in the lower-end segment. The strategy includes looking to divest assets or form joint ventures, such as its broadband partnership with MasOrange.

Vodafone Spain is expanding its portfolio of so-called edge data centers — smaller sites which are typically located closer to the end user and can be as small as a container. The company has a target of owning 100 edge data centers this year.

Spain has become an increasingly attractive market for data centers, thanks to a combination of relatively cheap energy, one of the largest fiber broadband networks in the world and several large submarine cables that connect Europe to the Americas. Bloomberg