An investment by telecoms financier Naguib Sawiris in Telecom Italia (TI) could help the Italian incumbent finance a bid for Brazilian triply-play operator GVT.
Yesterday Sawiris and TI confirmed the Egyptian’s interest in acquiring a stake in the…
An investment by telecoms financier Naguib Sawiris in Telecom Italia (TI) could help the Italian incumbent finance a bid for Brazilian triply-play operator GVT.
Yesterday Sawiris and TI confirmed the Egyptian’s interest in acquiring a stake in the Italian telco via an issue of new shares to Sawiris.
“[Sawiris’] initiative is described as being aimed at bringing new resources to the company to be dedicated to growth projects,” TI said in a statement on Monday.
The Italian press now reports that GVT is being viewed as one such growth project. GVT was put up for sale by Vivendi earlier in the year.
Telecom Italia, Sawiris and Vivendi all declined to comment on the reports concerning GVT, but a newswire report quoted TI CEO Marco Patuano as saying today that GVT was “something to look at”.
In Brazil, TI already owns a majority stake in mobile operator TIM.
GVT operates fixed-line, broadband, and pay-TV services.
Jonathan Doran, an analyst at Ovum, said that a bid from TI would make sense as GVT offers complimentary services. He also explained that regulatory changes make a bid possible.
“The recently passed pay-TV law opens the way for telcos to provide fully-fledged offerings including linear broadcast,” Doran said.
He explained that the real challenge for GVT would be to expand its network and acquire content if it was to grow its pay-TV subscriber base.
Marceli Passoni, a senior analyst at Informa, noted that TIM was the only one of the big four operators in Brazil that wouldn’t face significant antitrust hurdles to acquire GVT.
“TIM only has a long distance operator and recently acquired AES Atimus to provide fixed broadband,” said Passoni, adding that GVT would be a complimentary acquisition for the operator.
Brazil currently has nine million pay-TV subscribers but that figure is set to more than double to 20 million by 2017. With mobile penetration at 119%, pay-TV is seen as the next big growth prospect in the country.
Vivendi decided to examine its options for its telecoms operations including GVT over the summer. Following a strategic review the French conglomerate is now looking to scale back and move away from telecoms.
Deutsche Bank and Rothschild are advising on the sale of GVT. Vivendi is said to be looking for bids of at least €7bn (US$8.9bn) for the unit.
US DTH broadcaster DirecTV has also confirmed interest in GVT, while America Movil and Oi are both reportedly mulling bids.
