Report: AMX Confirms Interest in North
Mexican mobile holding group América Móvil is looking to gain a presence in northern Brazil where it has no operations, international press reported, citing analysts who attended a closed door meeting with América Móvil.
"They did not give anything specific, they just said that there are still many opportunities in Brazil because they still do not cover this northern area," Reuters reported analyst Andres Bezanilla at Valmex brokerage as saying.
In April, América Móvil put in a bid to acquire 33% of Italian holding company Olimpia, which has an 18% controlling share of Telecom Italia.
However, on April 28 Spain's Telefónica beat the Mexicans to the draw by joining a consortium of Italian companies to acquire the Olimpia stake, which amounts to a 23.6% controlling stake in Telecom Italia, for around 4.1bn euros (US$5.6bn).
América Móvil therefore has plenty of resources that it was unable to invest in Olimpia. Telecoms analyst Jacqueline Lison of Brazilian brokerage Fator Corretora recently told BNamericas that purchase options in Brazil are most likely high on the list.
The Mexican group might seek to acquire Minas Gerais-based mobile phone company Telemig Celular or its sister company Amazônia Celular, which operates in the northeast, or even Oi (formerly Telemar), Lison said.
However, the acquisition of Oi would not be allowed under current legislation, which prevents a single telecoms controller from operating in two different concession areas."
Posted to the site on 28th May 2007
