PT Portugal: Oi could devise workaround to PT veto to facilitate EUR 7.025bn sale to Altice
Oi, the Brazilian telco, could implement a strategy to prevent Portugal Telecom (PT) vetoing its sale of PT Portugal to Altice for EUR 7.025bn, reported Expresso. Sources familiar with the process told the Lusophone weekly that Oi wants to sell PT Portugal to Altice as quickly as possible and could devise a workaround to PT's right as a 25.6% Oi shareholder to veto potential asset sales by the Brazilian telco.
Altice is also being supported in its PT Portugal bid by Ongoing, a core investor in PT, the same sources said. Ongoing has already had its 10.05% PT stake reduced by 2.5% after defaulting on a loan to the former BES, now Novo Banco, and Credit Suisse that used these shares as collateral. Ongoing is believed to have contracted around EUR 600m in debt when it became a PT shareholder and could lose more of its PT shares to Novo Banco if it fails to make further loan repayments.
Novo Banco, which received a EUR 4.9bn state-backed recapitalization in August after the collapse of BES, now holds 12.6% of PT and has become its largest shareholder. PT itself is the target of a EUR 1.21bn takeover bid by private Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos. Most Lisbon analysts say dos Santos' PT offer will not succeed unless it is revised upwards.
Expresso