Telefónica agrees the sale of 11 data centers for €550 million to Asterion Industrial Partners

Madrid, 8 May, 2019.- Telefónica has signed an agreement for the sale of 11 Data Centres to Asterion Industrial Partners, the Pan-European infrastructure fund manager, for a total amount of 550 million euros. The transaction is expected to generate capital gains before taxes and controlling interests of around 260 million euros.

The sale includes the signing of a housing services agreement. Telefónica will continue to provide and manage the services it has been offering its customers from these centers and will maintain the direct relationship with them. In turn, this agreement will allow Asterion to leverage the sales network of the Telefónica Group's operations to market the remaining capacity of the Data Centers.

Telefónica therefore maintains its commercial positioning, the relationship with its customers and its leadership in offering connectivity services and cloud capabilities for the corporate segment. Telefonica will continue to offer its portfolio of services from a network of 23 Data Centers, including the 11 of the sale. The perimeter of the operation does not include the sale of servers owned by Telefónica, or the management and access to customers hosted on them.

The closing of the transaction will take place in a period of approximately two months, except for four Data Centers where the effective transfer is subject to several authorizations and administrative procedures.

The agreement announced today is part of the Telefónica Group’s asset portfolio management policy based on a strategy of value creation, improving return on capital and strategic positioning. It also complements the objective of organic debt reduction and strengthening the balance sheet in a growing cash flow scenario, which allows the company to maintain a sustainable and attractive shareholder remuneration.