In a new episode of the Vivo drama, we have a leading shareholder in Portugal Telecom (PT) warning that it would vote against Telefonica’s increased 6.5 billion EUR offer to buy-out the Portuguese firm’s stake in Vivo, the Brazilian mobile operator.
“If this is the offer on the table, our response will clearly be not to accept it,” said Nuno Vasconcellos, chief executive of Ongoing, a Portuguese investment company that owns around 7% of PT.
If you remember, PT rejected Telefonica’s initial bid for 50% of Brasilcel, the holding company that controls Vivo. The Spanish group then increased its bid, which according to Vasconcellos still doesn’t reflect the strategic value of Vivo.
Vasconcellos also called on the PT board to give shareholders a clear indication of whether it believed the stake in Vivo should be sold to Telefonica at the current offer price. He added that the price for Vivo would have to be sufficient for PT to “advance in a new direction.”
Does PT wants more money or what? If Vasconcellos manages to get its way even a potential hostile takeover won’t pass at the current price. We’ll definitely be watching how this drama unfolds…
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]