China Investment Purchases Eutelsat Stake From Abertis

China Investment Corp., the world’s fifth-largest sovereign fund, agreed to buy a 7 percent stake in satellite company Eutelsat Communications SA from Spain’s Abertis Infraestructuras SA. (ABE)

China Investment will pay Barcelona-based Abertis 385.2 million euros ($483 million) for 15.4 million shares of Paris- based Eutelsat, Abertis said in a statement today. Abertis expects a net capital gain of 237 million euros.

“Abertis will likely dispose the remaining stake down the road,” Bruno Silva and Pedro Oliveira, analysts at Banco BPI, wrote in a note sent to investors today.

Abertis, whose businesses range from toll-road management to telecommunications services and airports, is selling assets to cut debt and focus on projects where it can lead an industrial partnership. Abertis, which sold a 16 percent stake in Eutelsat for 981 million euros in January, still owns 8.35 percent of the French company.

Abertis shares climbed 0.4 percent to 10.09 euros at 9:57 a.m. in Madrid, valuing the company at 8.2 billion euros. Eutelsat rose 2.8 percent to 23.94 euros.

To contact the reporter on this story: Manuel Baigorri in Madrid at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net