Carlos Slim spokesperson denies talks with Portugal Telecom
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mexican billionaire and telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim’s spokesperson has rebuffed reports that Slim’s telecom company is in talks with the management and shareholders of Portugal Telecom to fend off a bid for the Portuguese company’s Brazilian wireless unit by Telefonica SA. According to Arturo Elias Ayub, the company is not talking to Portugal Telecom and has no interest in taking a relevant participation in Portugal Telecom; neither is it trying to block the Telefonica deal.
It has been reported by the local media that Slim owning less than 5% of Portugal Telecom has been in talks with Banco Espirito Santo, one of Portugal Telecom’s key shareholders, about how to block Telefonica’s EUR5.7 billion bid for its stake in Vivo Participacoes SA. Telefonica has been trying to merge Vivo with Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo SA, or Telesp, the Spanish company’s fixed-line unit in Brazil and for this purpose; it has been trying to gain control of it since at least 2006. Telefonica even threatened to curb Portugal Telecom’s ability to pay dividends, seeking to force it to the negotiating table.
Portugal Telecom on the other hand had described the bid as low and opportunistic and before that it called its stake in Vivo Participacoes SA, Brazil’s largest wireless operator, strategic, suggesting a sale wouldn’t be considered.
Slim owns America Movil SAB which is the largest mobile operator in the region with just over 206 million wireless subscribers in 17 countries in the Americas and also controls Mexico’s biggest fixed-line phone company Telefonos de Mexico SAB and South American fixed-line carrier Telmex Internacional SAB, or Telint.
Telefonica Spain and Slim directly compete in wireless and fixed-line telecommunications in most of the region’s countries and are arch rivals in Latin America. Cash and share tender had been launched by America Movil on May 11 to acquire holding company Carso Global Telecom SAB and Telint as part of Slim’s plan to consolidate his diverse telecommunications assets in a deal worth about 300 billion pesos ($23 billion).
