Avatel “irrevocably” breaks the merger with Parlem because of disagreements in valuation | Companies | EUROtoday

The telecommunications operator Avatel has formally introduced the “irrevocable” breakdown of the negotiations for the combination of its property in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community with Parlem Telecom. The choice, formalized by a letter despatched to the board of administrators of the Catalan agency dated March 25, 2026, places an finish to a consolidation course of of just about a 12 months that aspired to create a reference operator within the Mediterranean arc. According to the data despatched this Thursday to the BME Growth market, Avatel has withdrawn from the operation after receiving a notification from the principle shareholder of Parlem (Global Portfolio Investment) wherein the refusal to vote in favor of the transaction was expressed within the phrases proposed by the buying firm.

The blocking of the operation responds to a considerable distance within the valuation of the companies through the closing section of the authorized and monetary audit. Sources conversant in the method point out that the deterioration of Parlem’s aggressive place throughout fiscal 12 months 2025 was the set off for the breakup.

Given the monetary outcomes of the Catalan operator, the administration of Avatel, managed by Víctor Rodríguez and the Inveready fund, demanded a modification of the alternate equation initially agreed in December of the earlier 12 months. While the pre-agreement established that Avatel would take 50.1% of the capital of the brand new entity ensuing from the merger, the brand new calls for of the customer positioned its participation near 60%, which was rejected by the onerous core of Parlem shareholders.

For its half, the Catalan firm has responded that Avatel’s provide didn’t replicate the true worth or progress potential of its property, as acknowledged in a press release wherein it doesn’t specify the rejected proposal. Parlem’s board of administrators will meet this Friday with the intention of formally analyzing the scenario and ratifying its roadmap. The majority shareholders have assured monetary help to execute the marketing strategy independently after the breakdown of the settlement, in accordance with the word.

Parlem has reaffirmed its intention to proceed with its enterprise mission “autonomously”, though it’s positioned to take part within the consolidation of the telecommunications sector within the coming months from a place of larger solvency. The firm described the cessation of talks as “a circumstance typical of asset negotiation dynamics.”

The breakdown of negotiations coincides with a direct disaster within the governance of Parlem Telecom introduced this Wednesday. Xavier Capellades has resigned as CEO of the operator citing private causes, a departure that happens at a time of strategic vulnerability for the agency. This resignation has pressured the corporate’s founder, Ernest Pérez-Mas, to renew all govt powers and direct administration of the corporate. Pérez-Mas, who had stepped apart in June 2024 to occupy a non-executive function targeted on company relations, returns to the primary operational line in a state of affairs marked by the necessity to streamline decision-making and stabilize the inner construction.

Instability on the high administration degree has been aggravated by the earlier departure of key members of the board of administrators. The administrators linked to the Inveready Evergreen fund, in addition to Roger Piqué Pujuan, lately left their positions in a context of inner assessment. Currently, Parlem’s governing physique has been decreased to solely 4 members: Ernest Pérez-Mas, Albert Buxadé Herrera, Carme Hortalà Vallvé and the illustration of the Ona Capital Privat fund via Oriol Lobo Baquer. This discount of the board coincides with a interval of economic stress, after the corporate had recorded web losses of 6.4 million euros in earlier years, which will increase stress on the brand new roadmap led by Pérez-Mas.

Loss of synergies

The failure of the combination with Avatel represents the lack of the operational synergies that Parlem had projected to ensure its long-term viability. The firm estimated that the union of property would offer a further turnover of greater than 20 million euros per 12 months and financial savings in working prices of between 3.5 and 4.5 million euros per 12 months over a five-year horizon.

One of essentially the most crucial factors of the breakup is the lack of entry to the wholesale contract that Avatel maintains with MasOrange. This alliance allowed Parlem to function below community rental situations that have been considerably extra aggressive than the present ones, an element that the corporate itself had indicated as basic to enhancing its revenue margins and gross profitability.

The information didn’t take lengthy to have an effect on Parlem’s value, which fell 16% in Thursday’s session, to 1.96 euros per share. The withdrawal of Avatel forces the Catalan agency to search for new sources of financing or strategic companions at a time when small digital operators (with out their very own community) are now not capable of combine infrastructure property or enhance their wholesale agreements.

Without the help of Avatel, Parlem should face alone a telecommunications market characterised by industrial aggressiveness and value deflation. The operator has traditionally based mostly its advertising technique on a message of nationwide id linked to the Catalan independence motion, a place that has allowed it to draw a particular buyer base and obtain numerous subsidies from the Generalitat of Catalonia.

However, dependence on these institutional and area of interest elements now faces the problem of scale. At the top of the primary half of 2025, the corporate had 258,000 subscribers and revenues of 25.47 million euros, figures that administration meant to boost to 70 million euros in 2026 via the merger that has now been dominated out.

Despite the breakup, each corporations share reference buyers comparable to Inveready, led by Josep María Echarri, which was initially perceived as a facilitator for the operation however which in the end has not been sufficient to bridge the financial variations on the true worth of Catalan, Balearic and Valencian property within the present market context.