The Brazilian securities commission has halted Oi’s planned capital raise of up to R$14bn (US$6.1bn), connected to its merger with Portugal Telecom (PT), for 30 days.
The CVM said in a statement it had suspended the offering because comments made to…
The Brazilian securities commission has halted Oi’s planned capital raise of up to R$14bn (US$6.1bn), connected to its merger with Portugal Telecom (PT), for 30 days.
The CVM said in a statement it had suspended the offering because comments made to the media by the Brazilian operator’s CEO, Zeinal Bava, relating to the capital raise were not allowed at this stage.
The new stock issue had been approved by investors yesterday, in spite of protests from minority shareholders.
In a filing, Oi said: “The company will provide the necessary clarifications to the CVM as soon as possible and will seek to resolve any irregularities in order to continue with the offering.”
In a memo to investors, Bernstein Research said it viewed Bava’s comments as “innocuous and general” and believed that the suspension was likely a technical hitch. It said the matter could be resolved in a matter of days.
The capital raise was set to be priced on 16 April and close on 23 April. A road show to market the new shares was due to begin today, and was set to visit the US, Chile, Canada, France and Germany, local newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported.
