Orange to Buy Remaining Half of MasOrange for €4.2 Billion

Orange agreed to buy the remaining 50% of the Spanish joint venture MasOrange, which it doesn’t own. The deal is worth €4.2 billion.

The operator reached a non-binding agreement to buy out private equity group Lorca, which includes KKR, Cinven, and Providence Equity Partners. A binding agreement is expected by the end of 2025, should final terms be agreed, with completion slated for the first half of 2026. The deal would be subject to regulatory approval.

In July, Lorca was asking at least €5 billion for its stake in MasOrange. Orange and Masmovil struck a deal to combine operations in Spain in 2022 after the private equity investors bought the latter in 2020 for €3 billion. In October, MasOrange and Zegona-owned Vodafone Spain were rumoured to be among the shortlisted bidders for Excom, a small telecoms provider in rural Spain.

MasOrange is the largest operator in Spain by mobile connections, according to GSMA Intelligence's estimated data for Q3, with over 25.8 million. The other major operators are Telefonica-owned Movistar and Vodafone Spain, which have 16.3 million and 13.9 million, respectively.