Warning signs
"Telefónica will also list its infrastructure business Telxius, which owns mobile masts and fibre-optic cables, on the stock market next year. However, the company intends to maintain a controlling stake."
These partial flotations of a minority stake seem to end in tears. Does anyone remember FT floating a minority stake in their Orange mobile business in the early naughties to force the markets to attach what they thought was a more accurate higher value to the business?
They may get a one off cash injection from selling the minority stake but it also means they can't access the cash flows as "profit" without paying tax on it and spend much more buying out the minority a few years later (as FT did with that Orange minority stake). There's nothing in it for the minority share holders either as they will never see their shares attain a premium in the price as a hostile acquisition simply isn't possible .
If they need a short term cash infusion from a large fixed asset they'd be better placed to securitise a bunch of debt on it (I am not an accountant).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
