Telefonica Offers to Buy Out German Arm for Up to €2 Billion (2)

Spain’s Telefonica SAis seeking to buy up the outstanding shares in its German unit for as much as €2 billion ($2.2 billion) in a bid to take the company private.

The move to acquire 28.2% of Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG comes three months after the loss of a wholesale contract caused shares of the German carrier to plummet. Telefonica already owns the remainder of the company, directly or indirectly.

Telefonica shares fell as much as 3% on Tuesday in Madrid, where the company is based; shares in the German unit rose as much as 42%.

Still, analysts welcomed the ...