Portugal’s Sonaecom and Zon Multimedia’s largest shareholder, Isabel Dos Santos, have proposed to merge Sonaecom’s mobile unit, Optimus, with Zon.
According to the proposal, which is subject to Zon shareholder approval, Zon would absorb…
Portugal’s Sonaecom and Zon Multimedia’s largest shareholder, Isabel Dos Santos, have proposed to merge Sonaecom’s mobile unit, Optimus, with Zon.
According to the proposal, which is subject to Zon shareholder approval, Zon would absorb Optimus.
Sonaecom and Dos Santos said in separate statements they had agreed on an exchange ratio that would see Zon corresponding to 150% of Optimus’ value, but added they were open to different calculations.
Dos Santos – whose investment comes through Kento Holding Ltd and Jadeium BV – has increased her stake in Zon from around 10% to roughly 30% since the beginning of the year.
Should the management of both operators be happy with the terms, the merger proposal will be put to the respective shareholders.
The merger, which has been mooted for some time, would creating the second biggest telecoms player by incorporating the current number three into the largest pay TV operator.
The parties said in a joint statement: “The merger between Zon and Optimus will provide a significant optimisation of resources and improved efficiency and profitability that will lead to the strengthening of the investment capacity of the merged entity, both in new markets (particularly emerging markets) and new products, with higher quality and improved competitiveness.”
The proponents of the merger added that this “consolidation scenario” had the most potential to increase competition in Portugal’s telecoms market.
The country’s mobile market is dominated by incumbent Portugal Telecom and Vodafone.
Optimus is the third largest mobile operator in Portugal with roughly 21% market share. Its parent, Sonaecom, is 20%-owned by France Telecom.
Zon operates fixed-line and broadband services alongside pay TV. It also has an MVNO and satellite TV operations in Angola and Mozambique.
