Spanish infrastructure company Abertis has become the largest shareholder in the Hispasat satellite platform after buying a 13% holding from Telefonica.
Abertis has paid €124 million for the holding that will take its stake to about 47%. Eutelsat owns 28% of Hispasat and with Abertis also maintaining a holding of around 16% in Eutelsat it has a further indirect stake.
In January, Abertis sold half of its stake in Eutelsat for €396 million. There is a six-month lock up period before the company would be allowed to make any further disposals.
An interesting sideshow will be whether pay-TV platform Canal+, in which Telefonica has a significant interest, will continue to broadcast via both Hispasat and Astra.
