Portuguese holding company Semapa has announced that it will make a joint bid with private equity firms Apax Partners and Bain Capital for the Portuguese assets of Brazilian telco Oi.
In a securities filing issued earlier today, the Lisbon-based…
Portuguese holding company Semapa has announced that it will make a joint bid with private equity firms Apax Partners and Bain Capital for the Portuguese assets of Brazilian telco Oi.
In a securities filing issued earlier today, the Lisbon-based conglomerate said the size of the stake it would hold in PT Portugal is yet to be defined but is expected to be between 5% and 10%.
On 12 November, Apax and Bain submitted a €7.075bn (US$8.8bn) non-binding offer to Oi for its Portuguese assets, challenging an earlier €7.03bn bid from Luxembourg-based telecoms holding Altice.
A Semapa spokesperson told TelecomFinance that the consortium will submit a binding offer to Oi tomorrow.
Last Friday, a Brazilian report suggested that Apax and Bain were looking to improve their offer by €500m in an attempt to outbid Altice, which was rumoured to be the favoured bidder for the assets.
By teaming up with a Portuguese partner, the PE firms are reportedly trying to address concerns that PT Portugal, one of Portugal’s largest companies and employers, may fall into foreign hands.
Yesterday, Oi, which initially announced plans to merge with the Portuguese incumbent last year, issued a statement in response to the Brazilian report saying it had not received any further offers in addition to those already announced.
Dos Santos sticks to bid
Meanwhile, Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos is reportedly sticking to her €1.2bn (US$1.4bn) offer price for PT SPGS, a holding company which owns a 25.6% stake in Oi.
On 9 November, Dos Santos, who has a controlling stake in Portugal’s second-largest carrier Nos, filed her bid for PT SPGS. At the time, Oi labelled her offer as “unacceptable”, saying it imposed a number of conditions aimed at delaying the Oi-PT combination and preventing Oi from selling strategic assets.
Some analysts also argued that her €1.35 per share bidding price undervalued the company.
Although dos Santos later amended some of her conditions, reports today suggest that she will not increase the price, which represented an 11% premium to PT SGPS’ closing price on the Friday before her bid. Since then, PT SGPS’ share price has risen by approximately 25%.
According to analysts, dos Santos is looking to play a more active role in the consolidation process of the Portuguese telecoms industry, as well as have a say in Oi’s strategy, in particular with regard to its African operations.
Indeed, a deal could potentially give her greater control over Unitel, Angola’s largest wireless player, in which she already has a 25% stake. Oi is currently looking to sell its own 25% interest in the Angolan telco, which it inherited following its merger with PT, but has yet to find a buyer for the asset.
Highly-leveraged Oi is looking to raise funds to pay down its R$46bn (US$19bn) debt and expand in its domestic market, potentially via deal with Brazil’s second-largest player, TIM Brasil.
