Xavier Niel takes stake in Belgium’s Proximus

Xavier Niel, proprietor of French and pan-European telecom group Iliad Telecom, has taken a 6% stake in Belgium’s leading telco Proximus via his Carraun investment vehicle, the parent of Irish telco Eir.

Proximus’s stock price was boosted by around 5% on news of the acquisition.

Carraun said that it was takin the staek to get exposure to the Belgian leader in connectivity. Niel has long been interested in Belgian market and cited the country’s solid economic performance and sound regulatory environment as reasons for the investment.

Niels said he wanted to invest for the long-term in Proximus, which is majority-owned by the Belgian government, with a 53.51% stake.

In addition to Iliad’s presence, via Free, in the French market and in Poland and Italy, Niel last year took a stake in Vodafone. He is also co-proprietor of French newspaper publisher Le Monde.

Proximus has a strong position in the Belgian market where it competes nationally, facing Liberty Global-owned Telenet in Flanders and Brussels and Orange, which this year strengthened its postion in the French-speaking part of the country through the acqusitiono of cable operator Voo.