The drama surrounding Telefonica’s bid for Brazil’s Vivo is coming to an end. After selling an 8% stake in Portugal Telecom, leaving the Spanish group with only 2% share, Telefonica additionally increased its bid by 10% to 7.15 billion EUR (up from 6.5 billion) for PT’s 50% stake in Brasilcel, a holding company with a controlling 60% stake in Vivo. And… PT’s shareholders voted in favor of the deal, but… (there’s always some “but”), the government of Portugal used its so-called “golden share” to stop the deal.
Now it’s the European Court of Justice turn to say whether using this instrument by the Portuguese government is lawful under EU rules on the free movement of capital within the bloc. Investors are waiting for a July 8th ruling when we’ll know the “destiny” of the leading mobile operator in Brazil.
As you know from our previous posts, Telefonica’s goal is to more closely integrate Vivo with its underperforming Brazilian fixed-line arm, Telesp, and eventually get a dominating position the ever growing mobile market of Brazil.
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]