Shareholders of Dutch telco KPN have voted for the €8.55bn (US$11.6bn) sale of its German unit to Spanish telco Telefonica to go ahead.
Number three E-Plus has a 15% share of the German mobile market while Telefonica’s German unit is the fourth and…
Shareholders of Dutch telco KPN have voted for the €8.55bn (US$11.6bn) sale of its German unit to Spanish telco Telefonica to go ahead.
Number three E-Plus has a 15% share of the German mobile market while Telefonica’s German unit is the fourth and smallest player. The combined entity would create the country’s largest wireless carrier by customers.
In a statement, KPN said that once the deal is complete, it will receive €5bn in cash and a 20.5% stake in Telefonica Deutschland.
The Dutch mobile operator intends to use the proceeds for investment and dividends in 2014, chief executive Eelco Blok told shareholders at the extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday.
The deal will now go to antitrust review and the results are being closely watched by European rivals for any indication that regulators may look more favourably on national mergers in the future.
The results will also be closely monitored by the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, owner of America Movil (AMX), who already holds 30% of KPN and is considering a €7.2bn takeover bid for control of the rest of it.
In late August, Telefonica increased its offer for E-Plus from €8.1bn to €8.55bn and agreed to give KPN a slightly higher stake in Telefonica Deutschland, persuading AMX to back the deal.
However, an independent foundation with almost half of KPN’s voting rights abstained from the vote. A month ago, the foundation exercised a poison pill, giving it 50% of the voting rights to potentially block AMX’s offer for KPN. It later asked the Mexican telco to make a “fair bid”.
