América Móvil today announced a $9.6 billion offer to acquire the remaining 70 percent of Dutch telecoms group KPN that it does not already own.
In a press release, América Móvil said it has been exploring opportunities to expand its operations to other regions outside the Americas. It has been a little over a year since América Móvil made its initial investment in KPN.
América Móvil said its objective is to acquire a majority stake in KPN in order to facilitate greater operational cooperation between the two companies.
The move by América Móvil has been complicated by Telefonica’s bid last month for KPN’s German E-Plus division. KPN has agreed to sell and transfer 100 percent of its interest in E-Plus to Telefonica Deutschland for $6.68 billion in cash and a 17.6 percent stake in Telefonica Deutschland after the transaction is complete.
The E-Plus tranaction creates an new dynamic between América Móvil and Telefonica, as the two companies directly compete and together own 60 percent of the total Latin American wireless market.
América Móvil did not comment on Telefonica’s bid beyond saying in a statement that it was “carefully evaluating the merits of the proposed transaction and will make a final determination in relation to the exercise of its voting rights at the upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting of KPN.”
Filed Under: Carriers
