Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos has agreed to buy an extra 10.96% stake in Portuguese cableco Zon Multimedia, boosting her total shareholding to 28.8%.
Dos Santos’ Amsterdam-based company Jadeium has signed an agreement to acquire nearly 34…
Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos has agreed to buy an extra 10.96% stake in Portuguese cableco Zon Multimedia, boosting her total shareholding to 28.8%.
Dos Santos’ Amsterdam-based company Jadeium has signed an agreement to acquire nearly 34 million shares – equal to a 10.96% shareholding – from state-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depositos. Caixa is required to sell non-strategic holdings as part of Portugal’s €78bn bailout by the European Union and IMF.
The purchase will take place by 2 July, according to a Zon statement. While Zon did not disclose the financial details, a report in Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Negocios cited a source close to dos Santos as saying she has agreed to pay €2.60 per share, equalling a total of €88.09m.
Dos Santos now owns 18.8% of Zon via Jadeium, which is the cableco’s largest shareholder, and 10% via Malta-based Kento Holding, which she directly controls and also has a stake in Portugal Telecom.
The daughter of Angola’s president, dos Santos has recently built her stake in Zon. In early May, she bought Telefonica’s 4.918% stake in the cableco and, earlier this month, reportedly acquired a further 2.82% from Portuguese company Cinveste. She has investments in several Portuguese companies, including a stake in the nation’s third largest bank, Banco BPI.
Analysts have speculated dos Santos may eventually seek to merge Zon with local media and telecoms group Sonaecom.
Vodafone Portugal CEO Antonio Coimbra has also said previously that a merger between his company and Zon would make theoretical sense as it would create an operator that could compete with Portugal Telecom.
Other Zon investors with stakes of 5% or more are Banco BPI, which owns 7.55%, and Holy Spirit Brothers, which owns 5%.
