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French billionaire Xavier Niel, owner of Iliad Group, has sold his roughly 6% stake in Belgian telco Proximus, according to a recent filing.
Assuming Proximus’s recent share price of €6.56, the deal would have netted Niel around €135 million.
Niel acquired his roughly 6% stake in the business in late 2023 via his Irish holding company Carraun, praising the operator’s networks and competitive positioning.
By 2025, reports suggested that Niel had proposed a shared ownership model with the Belgian government – Proximus’s largest stakeholder with around 53% ownership. According to those reports, this deal would have seen the government retain the chairmanship of the board, with Niel appointed CEO and given the possibility of increasing his stake in future.
The deal was ultimately rejected by the state, which was likely viewed the deal as something of a soft takeover.
For years, Niel had previously made no secrets of his ambitions to launch his challenger brand Free in the Belgium market, one of the most expensive telecoms markets in Europe. Responding to a 2024 post on X bemoaning the country’s high prices, Niel said he was all for it, saying “it’s your government that doesn’t want it” (translated).
Moi je suis chaud, c’est votre gouvernement qui veut pas <a href=”https://t.co/iwJ2QbXuhR”>https://t.co/iwJ2QbXuhR
— Xavier Niel (@Xavier75) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Xavier75/status/1979549525816594492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>October 18, 2025
<script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″>
Now, with the Belgian government’s attitude seemingly unchanged, Niel has decided to turn his attention elsewhere. One such location is surely Chile, where Niel’s NJJ Holding teamed up with Millicom to purchase Telefónica’s local unit earlier in the year.
With Brussels unwilling to loosen its grip on the former incumbent, Niel appears to have concluded that Belgium’s telecom market remains easier to complain about than to crack.
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Author: Harry Baldock - This post was originally published on this siteIn today’s hyper-connected market, an enterprise’s most valuable asset — mission-critical data — often remains
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French billionaire Xavier Niel, owner of Iliad Group, has sold his roughly 6% stake in