Spain to Buy Telefonica Stake Worth as Much as $2.2 Billion (3)

The Spanish government plans to buy a stake in Telefonica SA worth as much as $2.2 billion, a bid to safeguard one of the nation’s most strategic assets as Saudi Arabia builds up its own position in the company.

Sepi, Spain’s investment vehicle, will buy as much as 10% of Telefonica’s shares — a stake that may total more than €2 billion — in an effort to provide “greater shareholder stability” and protect the former telecom monopoly’s “strategic capacities,” the government said in a regulatory filing late Tuesday. Ministers decided on the investment in a cabinet meeting earlier that day. ...