Written by Andrei Khalip | From Reuters
Brazilian telecom company Oi said on Monday it would push ahead with plans to take over the operational assets of Portugal Telecom, dismissing a gambit by Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos that could scupper the deal.
Oi announced last year a deal to merge with Portugal Telecom’s phone and cable TV networks. But dos Santos, who is listed by Forbes as Africa’s richest woman, unveiled an offer on Sunday for Portugal Telecom’s holding company which was split off under the deal and now belongs to various shareholders.
The offer by dos Santos – the 41-year-old daughter of the president of Angola, a former Portuguese colony – made a splash in the telecom world because the holding company owns 25.7 percent of the new operational firm that is combining Oi and the Portuguese assets.
The bid aims to make dos Santos a major shareholder in the new Brazilian-Portuguese operational firm, giving her a say over strategy, according to a person close to the businesswoman.
Oi has said it may sell its Portuguese assets to pay down debts, a possibility that is on the table since French telecoms group Altice bid for them last week..
However, one of the conditions of dos Santos’s offer of 1.35 euros per share was that Oi should not sell the assets, which are now called PT Portugal.
Her offer was not directed at Oi. Rather it will be the holding company’s shareholders, which include the new bank that has emerged from bankrupt Portuguese lender Banco Espirito Santo, to evaluate any offer.
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