A few days after Grupo Corporativo ONO shareholders approved an initial public offering (IPO), UK’s Vodafone Group agreed to acquire the Spanish operator  for 7.2 billion euro ($9.9 billion) on a debt and cash free basis, TeleGeography reports.

The British company says the transaction,”accelerates [its] unified communications strategy in a key, convergent European market, providing a significant time-to-market advantage and network reach that complements Vodafone Spain’s ongoing fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) program”.

Vodafone Group also expect to have cost and CAPEX synergies with a rate of around 240 million euro, before integration costs, by the fourth full year after the deal is completed, and equivalent to a net present value of approximately 2.0 billion euro after integration costs. On the back of the acquisition, Vodafone has said it sees significant opportunities in accelerated growth in unified communications products and services, by leveraging its distribution and marketing ability and through cross-selling to each of the company’s customer base. The British outfit estimates revenues with a total net value of around 1.0 billion euro.

In commenting on the deal, Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao noted, “The combination of Vodafone and ONO creates a leading integrated communications provider in Spain and is an attractive value creation for Vodafone. Demand for unified communication products and services has increased significantly over the last few years, in Spain, and this transaction – together with our FTTH build program – will increase our ability to provide best-in-class offers in the Spanish market.”