MADRID, March 11 (Reuters) - Spanish telecom operator
MasMovil has started talks over a possible merger with the
Spanish unit of U.K.-based telecom operator Vodafone,
newspaper Expansion reported, citing sources with knowledge of
the process.
MasMovil, which was taken over by three buyout funds
including KKR last year, has set a first valuation of
the Vodafone unit at 7.5 billion euros ($8.96 billion), the
newspaper said.
Expansion did not say who would control the merged entity if
a merger proceeded.
A MasMovil spokesman said he could not immediately comment,
while a spokesman for Vodafone declined to comment.
Back in September, MasMovil and its private equity owners
denied a previous press report about merger talks between the
two rival telecom operators.
($1 = 0.8375 euros)
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Jan Harvey)