Telefonica cancels Telxius listing due to weak investor interest

Debt-burdened Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica said Thursday it had cancelled a listing of its infrastructure subsidiary Telxius due to weak investor demand.

The company said in a statement it would continue "to analyse strategic alternatives" for Telxius.

The subsidiary manages Telefonica's infrastructure assets, including over 31,000 kilometres (19,000 miles) of sea-floor fibre-optic cables and 15,000 telecom masts in Spain.

The company had hoped to raise up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) from the listing, which was scheduled for October 3. It had planned to float up to 40 percent of Telxius.

Telefonica had set an asking price of 12 euros to 15 euros a share, thus valuing Telxius at 3.0-3.75 billion euros.

Telefonica, one of the world's biggest telecoms groups, had a debt pile of 52.57 billion euros at the end of June.

As such, it is on the hunt for cash and it is also considering a possible listing of its British unit O2, after the European Commission blocked its sale to Hong Kong group Hutchison Whampoa over fears of the impact on prices for consumers.

The group reported a net profit of 1.24 billion euros in the first half of 2016 -- a 42.1-percent drop from the same time last year -- due in part to currency fluctuations.