The deputy CEO of Sonaecom, owner of Portuguese operator Optimus, has said a merger with cableco Zon Multimedia would make sense for the market.
Speaking at conference in Porto, Miguel Almeida reportedly talked up the synergies between the two firms…
The deputy CEO of Sonaecom, owner of Portuguese operator Optimus, has said a merger with cableco Zon Multimedia would make sense for the market.
Speaking at conference in Porto, Miguel Almeida reportedly talked up the synergies between the two firms saying a merger would be complementary.
Bloomberg quoted Almeida as saying that a potential merger would create a stronger competitor to challenge incumbent Portugal Telecom. It would make sense for the market as it would create an operator of a different scale, and add value to both Sonaecom and Zon.
In January a clause in Zon’s bylaws was scrapped that prohibited shareholders from exercising more than 10% of Zon’s voting rights.
Subsequently investor Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s president, built a 28.8% stake in the cableco.
According to Reuters Almeida said, speaking at the conference, that the change in the shareholder structure could make a merger more likely, and that it had changed the dynamics.
Optimus is competing with larger operators Vodafone Portugal, which has also been linked with a merger with Sonaecom, and TMN, owned by PT.
