The CEO of Vodafone’s Portuguese subsidiary has reportedly said that a merger between his company and cableco Zon Multimedia would theoretically make sense, as it would create an operator that could compete with Portugal Telecom.
According to…
The CEO of Vodafone’s Portuguese subsidiary has reportedly said that a merger between his company and cableco Zon Multimedia would theoretically make sense, as it would create an operator that could compete with Portugal Telecom.
According to Portuguese publication Negocios Online, Vodafone Portugal CEO Antonio Coimbra also said that he would not speculate on possible consolidation scenarios, but that Vodafone was attentive to all movements.
Any potential merger between Vodafone and Zon would be complicated by the Portuguese cableco’s shareholder rules, which state that a competitor can not hold ordinary shares representing more than 10% of Zon’s share capital.
Those rules define a competitor as a business that offers “telecommunications services of public use or of the operation of a network, of media, including content production, interactive or otherwise, and electronic commerce”.
Earlier this week, Zon’s shareholders approved a measure to remove another restriction, which limited shareholders to exercising a maximum of 10% of Zon’s voting rights.
This change led to speculation of a possible merger of Zon and media/telecoms group Sonaecom.
Meanwhile, Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias reported that market speculation had revived that Spanish incumbent Telefonica might sell its stake in Zon Multimedia, which currently holds 5.46% of the company’s share capital.
Telefonica said in late 2011 that it was assessing its operations to find non-core assets that could be divested.