(Reuters) -Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC will acquire a 25% stake in a fibre optic broadband venture between MasOrange, partly owned by France’s Orange, and Vodafone Spain, which is owned by Britain’s Zegona Communications, the three companies said on Monday.
Following GIC’s investment in the joint venture, MasOrange will hold 58% of the firm and Vodafone Spain will have a 17% stake, the companies said.
Singaporean state funds have been expanding in Europe with investments in infrastructure, renewables and luxury fashion brands, to take advantage of the comparatively cheaper and attractive valuations of European firms amid a stronger euro and rising U.S. tariffs.
Singapore’s state investor Temasek invested over S$10 billion ($7.8 billion) in Europe in the year ended March 2025. In late July, the company said it would raise its stake in Italian luxury fashion house Ermenegildo Zegna to 10%.
Vodafone Spain, which was acquired by Zegona in a 5 billion euro ($5.79 billion) deal last year, will make 1.4 billion euros in proceeds from the joint venture, Zegona said in a separate statement.
Zegona shares were up 2.3% in London trading, after earlier rising as much as 3.9% to hover near its record high of 905 pence.
The deal comes after Vodafone Spain agreed in January to create the new fibre network company in Spain with MasOrange.
The parties at the time were also looking for an investor that would hold 40% of the new venture.
GIC, which reported its slowest pace of investment return growth in five years in July, said it continued to seek long-term opportunities, particularly in the infrastructure sector.
The Financial Times first reported on GIC taking a stake in the joint venture earlier on Monday.
($1 = 0.8647 euros)
($1 = 1.2873 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Angela Christy and Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Editing by Tom Hogue, Jamie Freed and Bernadette Baum)
