Mobile operator TIM Participações (BZ:TIMP3) has released a notice to the local bourse denying that it is preparing an unsolicited bid for Nextel Brasil.
Mobile operator TIM Participações (BZ:TIMP3) has released a notice to the local bourse denying that it is preparing an unsolicited bid for Nextel Brasil.
It issued the declaration in response to a report in Valor Economico which cited an unspecified source saying that TIM was readying such a proposal.
“There are no ongoing preparations of such offer and the company considers that these are only market rumours about future scenarios,” TIM said in the statement.
The suggestion of interest in Nextel, owned by US group NII Holdings (NASDAQ:NIHD), which has recently emerged from bankruptcy protection, came in an article which also suggested Telefonica’s Vivo (BVMF:VIVT4) subsidiary was no longer looking to consolidate Brazil’s mobile market.
According to the business daily, Vivo is instead interested in buying Sky Brasil, which was recently acquired by US giant AT&T (NYSE:T) as part of its takeover of DTH provider DirecTV. An acquisition would reportedly depend on whether AT&T decides to expand in Brazil or exit the market.
Sky Brasil would cost about R$20bn (US$5.63bn) to R$25bn (US$7.03bn) and would be added on to Vivo’s broadband subsidiary GVT, the report said.