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Angolan President’s Daughter Makes $1.5B Bid for Portugal Telecom

Posted byBy Megan Reed | Published on: CommentsComments (2)

Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s president, made a 1.2 billion-euro ($1.5 billion) bid for Portugal Telecom SGPS SA, the holding company that owns a minority stake in the carrier created from a merger with Brazilian telecommunications carrier Oi SA.

Dos Santos, an investor in Portugal Telecom rival Nos SGPS SA, is offering 1.35 euros a share through Lisbon-based Terra Peregrin-Participacoes SGPS SA, 11 percent more than the stock’s Nov. 7 close, according to a filing yesterday. Conditions include an acceptance level of more than 50 percent and no major changes such as a sale of strategic assets. Portugal Telecom rose as much as 15 percent in Lisbon.

Portugal Telecom no longer controls the operating assets of the country’s former phone monopoly after its merger with Brazil’s largest landline carrier. Oi, which is selling assets in Portugal and Africa, is considering a 7 billion-euro offer made this month by billionaire Patrick Drahi’s Altice SA for the Portuguese assets.

In a statement today, Rio de Janeiro-based Oi said it considers any changes to the terms agreed with Portugal Telecom “inopportune.”

Oi and Portugal Telecom agreed a year ago on a combination to create a carrier with 100 million customers to compete against Telefonica SA and Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB. In July, the companies renegotiated the transaction to give Portugal Telecom a smaller stake in the combined entity after it emerged that the Lisbon-based partner was holding 897 million euros in short-term debt defaulted by Rioforte Investments SA, part of the Espirito Santo Group.

Read more at: bloomberg.com

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