Auna No Pressure To Sell, Telecom Values Still Low "

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Spanish telecommunications company Auna Group (AUNA.YY) is under no pressure to sell any time soon, one of the company's shareholders told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

"Telecom valuations are still quite low and the company's cashflow is strong - it can afford to sit tight," Terrence Tehranian of U.K. private-equity firm GMT Communications Partners Ltd. (GMTC.YY) said.

There has been speculation about offers for either the whole or one of the company's units ever since it rejected a EUR8 billion offer approach from three private-equity firms for its mobile telecoms unit, Amena, three months ago.

"With fixed line currently trading at five times EBITDA and mobile at eight times the sector has yet to recover to normal levels following the boom and bust," said Tehranian.

Price talk for the whole company ranges between EUR10 billion and up to EUR14 billion, and the larger shareholders are thought to be looking for at least the middle of that range, with an initial public offering possible in a year or so, sources said.

Spanish banking giant Santander Central Hispano SA (STD) has a 27% stake, and electricity companies Endesa (ELE) and Union Fenosa (UNF.MC), hold 32.6% and 19%, respectively.

-By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9260; marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 22nd October 2004