MADRID — Telefonica shelved plans to sell a stake in its wireless carrier O2, as Britain’s decision to leave the EU roiled markets and created a final, insurmountable hurdle to a 15-month sales effort aimed at cutting debt.Telefonica was weighing options for the UK unit including an initial public offering (IPO) after the EU blocked its£10.25bn sale last month, people familiar with the matter have said.Instead it will consolidate O2 back into its financial statements, and no longer present the unit as discontinued operations, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.The Spanish carrier "continues to explore different strategic alternatives for O2 UK, to be implemented when market conditions are right", it said.The retreat marks one of the biggest examples so far of the damage Brexit is causing businesses inside and outside the UK. Telefonica was counting on O2’s sale to CK Hutchison Holdings to pay down some of its€50.2bn in debt. With that deal blocked, Brexit has made the bac...
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