Yap, we knew Telefonica won’t just pull out from the Vivo deal. Again, more money was needed, and the Spanish group have put an additional 350 million EUR for Portugal Telecom’s (PT) 50% stake in Brasilcel to end the acquisition. And as you know, Brasilcel controls 60% of Vivo…
In total, Telefonica paid 7.5 billion EUR to the Portuguese company and now it’s up to the Board of Directors of both companies to approve the deal. This time, it should go as smoothly as possible, without any government interference.
Now Telefonica will be able to combine assets of its landline business Telasp with Vivo, and take advantage of any synergies found. The same strategy, BTW, is used by their main rival in Brazil – America Movil.
At the same time, PT will use a portion the proceeds of the Brasilcel’s sale to acquire 22.4% stake in Brazil’s fourth-largest mobile operator, Oi, for $4.76 billion.
In a nutshell, it’s a win-win situation – Telefonica got what it wanted, while PT has managed to keep its foot in the ever-growing Brazil’s mobile phone market…
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]