Goldman Sachs reduces its stake in Telefónica to 5.3%

September 6 () –

The American investment bank Goldman Sachs has reduced its stake in Telefónica to 5.533%, which is 2.5 percentage points below the 8.081% position it held until now in the company chaired by José María Álvarez-Pallete, according to the records of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) consulted by Europa Press.

Specifically, the entity’s position in Telefónica is structured with 0.865% in indirect shares and the other 4.668% corresponding to different types of financial derivatives (‘swap’, ‘call warrant’, ‘call/put option’ and ‘future’).

It is worth noting that the type of financial derivatives that currently support Goldman Sachs’ stake in Telefónica are similar to those also used by Morgan Stanley to facilitate the entry of the operator STC into the shareholding of the Spanish teleco, that is, they are used in operations in which the companies that will ultimately be the owners of the shares use intermediaries to establish their position.

Specifically, Goldman Sachs owns 313.7 million shares of the Spanish company, whose market value is currently around 1,318.6 million euros, with Telefónica shares trading at 4.204 euros on the stock market at around 11:45 a.m. on Friday.

On the other hand, the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, avoided commenting on Monday on the investment period of the Saudi telecom company STC – which is 64% owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (Public Investment Fund, PIF) – in Telefónica, but acknowledged that the Government “will continue working” on the proposal.

Telefónica recorded a net profit of 979 million euros in the first half of the year, which represents an increase of 28.9% compared to the 760 million euros of the same period of the previous year.