Woodford backed telecoms vehicle poaches Goldman banker as it posts maiden dividend
Telecoms takeover vehicle Zegona, set up last year by two former Virgin Media executives and backed by investor Neil Woodford, has poached Goldman Sachs banker Menno Kremer to grow its business across Europe.
The ex-Virgin pair, former chief financial officer Eamonn O’Hare and ex-chief operating officer Robert Samuelson, tempted Kremer away from the bank with promises to grow Zegona’s assets to between €1bn and €3bn.
Kremer is leaving his post as executive director of investment banking at Goldman, where he advised telecoms giants including Altice, Deutsche Telekom, Liberty Global, and Vodafone.
Zegona has announced a maiden dividend of 4.5 pence per ordinary share in 2016.
Yesterday Zegona’s first acquisition, Spanish firm Telecable de Asturias, reported revenue up 2.7 per cent to €134.4m (£104m) for the year.
Telecable was picked up from from private equity firm Carlyle Group for a cool €640m in August 2015.
Zegona has forecast accelerating growth in 2016, expecting mid-single digit revenue growth and double digit cash flow growth, after floating on the London AIM market in March, backed of a range of blue chip fund managers including Standard Life and Neil Woodford.
Chief executive O’Hare, who previously referred to the firm as a “small Virgin Media”, boasted the company be able to acquire firms quickly due to consolidation in the European telecoms sector forcing companies to spin off parts to meet competition rules.