Telefonica to team up with Allianz for 5 billion euro investment in Germany: Expansion

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish telecom giant Telefonica is readying an alliance with the private equity arm of German insurer Allianz to finance a 5 billion euro (4.53 billion pounds) infrastructure investment in Germany, Spanish newspaper Expansion said on Monday.

Telefonica and Allianz aim to create a joint venture half-owned by each that would invest into a fibre-optic network in Germany, the newspaper said, citing unidentified financial sources.

Reuters had reported last week that Telefonica was in the final stages of negotiating a deal with banks and an unidentified investor to build the fibre-optic network to supply under-served areas of Germany.

A spokesman at Telefonica declined to comment and a spokeswoman at Allianz was not immediately available.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Louise Heavens)