MADRID, April 2 (Reuters) - Spain's Telefonica hasbegun the process to eventually list its Argentine subsidiary onthe Buenos Aires stock exchange, a move aimed at raising fundsas the group seeks to extend its fibre optic network and cutdebt.
The Spanish telecommunications company said in a recentfiling to the Argentine market regulator that it had called ashareholder meeting on April 16 to approve the listing. The unitis valued at around 4.7 billion euros ($5.8 billion), includingdebt, according to Barclays.
The Spanish company was analysing options to increase thevalue of its asset portfolio, including that of TelefonicaArgentina, a Telefonica spokeswoman said, but declined to givefurther details.
Telefonica's debt stood at 48.6 billion euros at the end ofDecember, down 1 billion euros from three months earlier thanksto improving cash flow and the company has pledged to reduce itsdebt pile further this year.($1 = 0.8112 euros)(Reporting by Andres Gonzalez; Writing by Paul Day; Editing bySonya Dowsett and Susan Fenton)