Carlos Slim’s America Movil (AMX) has announced it officially owns 27.7% of KPN following the closure of its €8 per share tender offer yesterday.
The Mexican telecoms group declared that, now the offer is unconditional, it holds 393,283,000 shares…
Carlos Slim’s America Movil (AMX) has announced it officially owns 27.7% of KPN following the closure of its €8 per share tender offer yesterday.
The Mexican telecoms group declared that, now the offer is unconditional, it holds 393,283,000 shares – enough, KPN executives have said, to give it significant influence over the company.
Despite KPN’s repeated recommendations to shareholders to ignore the offer, owners of nearly 40% of shares chose to tender them for acceptance – significantly more than AMX was able to accept under its tender offer for only 27.7% of shares.
AMX had built up a stake of 24.91% before the tender closed via a series of transactions outside market trading, paying significantly less than the €8 per share tender offer price.
Settlement is set to take place on 3 July.
AMX said the deal marks a milestone in its European expansion plans.
“For AMX, geographic diversification has always been key to its successful growth and strategic development, providing greater stability to AMX’s cash flow and profitability and contributing to its strong credit rating,” the company said. “With this investment, AMX has achieved its objective of securing a meaningful minority stake in KPN, a company with an attractive position in important European markets.”
Meanwhile, KPN CEO Eelco Blok, who firmly opposed AMX gaining such a significant stake in the company, is in Mexico this week to discuss the company’s future.
In its statement, AMX said it was “looking forward to an ongoing constructive dialogue with KPN” and expects the two companies will explore “areas for potential cooperation”.
However, Blok’s failure to prevent AMX from gaining a significant shareholding has prompted speculation that he may step down.
Blok took on the role of CEO in April 2011 and, in the meantime, the company has continued to see revenues decline in its home market. However, he has promised the results for the second quarter will be better – the result of a major reorganisation plan announced last year.