The Government assures that it wants to reach 10% in Telefónica "in the shortest possible time" and the stock shoots up to May highs

Updated Tuesday, March 26, 2024-16:32

• Companies The Government uses Treasury funds to enter Telefónica without new Budgets

The Government spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, assured this Tuesday at a press conference that the Executive hopes that the State Society of Industrial Participations (Sepi) will take 10% of Telefónica in

, after yesterday the public entity will notify that he has 3% of the shares of the telecommunications operator.

"As for the deadlines to complete (the operation), it will be done as quickly as possible. Obviously, as long as it does not affect the price of the same," said the Government spokesperson. In the absence of the first part of the sentence being concrete, Alegría's words have awakened precisely the opposite that she hoped to achieve and Telefónica's shares, flat until then, have begun to rise to reach levels not recorded since May 2023.

At 4:30 p.m.,

that became pronounced after 1:00 p.m., shortly after the Council of Ministers' press conference ended. In the absence of knowing what path the acceleration of the operator's actions will take, the Government's "rush" to complete the operation could raise the final bill by several tens of millions of euros.

The 3% declared yesterday by Sepi is valued at just over 700 million euros at market price. To reach 10% of the operator's capital,

, which will make the Government's bill significantly more expensive compared to the 2,100 million euros that were initially calculated. Sepi is not obliged to notify new purchases until it reaches 5% of the capital.