unstoppable Xavier Neill seems to have set no limits to building an empire in European telecoms. Although it has been investing outside France’s borders for years, the “telecom troublemaker” is gaining momentum. This Monday, Free’s founder hinted during a press point organized by the Association of Economic and Financial Journalists (AJEF) that he wants to get his hands on Ukrainian operator LifeCell. “500 million euros”. According to the billionaire, the sale of this player, which today belongs to Turkish Turkcell, must still receive several green lights, including from competition officials. Xavier Neal assures that the acquisition can be completed in five to six months.
This deal is not the only operation undertaken by an entrepreneur. Last month, Free’s parent company Iliad returned to buy Vodafone’s Italian arm. Quite a purchase, as the latter is valued at 10.45 billion euros. Iliad’s ambition is to merge Vodafone Italia with its transalpine operator, Iliad Italia, which has experienced strong growth in the mobile market since its arrival in spring 2018. Xavier Neil also became a shareholder of Vodafone in September 2022, of which he took 2.5 shares. % of capital.
Xavier Neal’s name also comes up among investors interested in Portugal’s first operator, Meo. Patrick Drahi’s property, the latter is considering selling it with ambitions to bring in some. Cash And reducing SFR’s parent company Altice Group’s mountain of debt.
In Eastern Europe, Xavier Neill also has big ambitions. In September 2020, the telecom magnate bought mobile operator Plane in Poland for 2.2 billion euros. A year later, it did it again in this country, buying the cable operator UPC for 1.5 billion euros. The idea is, by combining them, to be able to offer so-called “convergent” offers, combining fixed and mobile Internet.
Recently, Xavier Neal moved to Belgium. Through his investment company Caroun, he took 6% in Proximus, none other than the former state monopoly. The billionaire introduced himself “Long Term Partner” of this operator. While waiting, perhaps, to increase its participation further…
In this category, it should be added that Xavier Neil is the owner of Eir (Ireland’s historical operator), Swiss Salt and Monaco Telecom. The businessman has interests in other continents as well. Last February, his investment company Atlas increased its stake from 7% to 19.6% in Luxembourg group Millicom International Cellular, known in Latin America for its Tigo brand.