UK-based tech investor Zegona Communications confirmed it had entered exclusive talks with TeliaSonera regarding the latter’s Spanish unit, Yoigo.

The statement came after “press speculation” last week, which said Zegona bid more than €500 million for a 77 per cent stake in the Spanish operator.

“Various stakeholders would also need to be involved in any transaction and the company has no agreement, even in principle with them,” the Zegona statement said.

Yoigo’s parent company TeliaSonera also confirmed it is “reviewing its future presence in the Spanish market”. This is not the first time a sale of the business has been considered, although so far TeliaSonera has not found a buyer at the right price.

Yoigo is Spain’s smallest mobile operator, trailing rivals Movistar (Telefonica), Orange and Vodafone with just a 7 per cent market share (3.3 million mobile connections).

Acquiring Yoigo would enable Zegona to pursue a quadplay strategy in Spain, where it last year bought cable operator Telecable for €640 million.

Zegona was created “with the objective of acquiring businesses in the European telecommunications, media and technology sector with a ‘buy, fix, sell’ strategy”.

Last week it was reported that Zegona’s bid was between €60 million and €65 million more than one made by local firm MasMovil.

Zegona cautioned that the current talks “may not result in the execution of binding acquisition agreements”.  It added that the acquisition may be classified “as a reverse takeover under the FCA [Financial Conduct Authority] listing rules” due to which it has requested the temporary suspension of trading in its ordinary shares.