Tim hires bank to seek acquisitions in Brazil, targeting Oi
Tim Participacoes (Bovespa: TIMP3), the Brazilian mobile telephone company, has hired a bank to seek acquisitions in Brazil and has targeted Oi (Bovespa: OIBR4), a Rio de Janeiro-based company, Veja reported, without citing sources.
The item did not identify the bank that has been supposedly hired by Tim to make acquisitions in Brazil.
Oi has BRL 46bn (USD 19bn) of debt, a factor causing it to not participate in an auction for 4G frequencies in Brazil set for 30 September, as reported.
Oi's aim is to reduce its leverage to participate as a leading actor in the industry consolidation underway, Valor reported, citing an unidentified representative of the controlling shareholders of the listed company.
Tim plans to seek acquisitions despite Banco BTG Pactual (Bovespa: BBTG11), the Brazilian investment bank, preparing to buy the Brazil-based company controlled by Italia Telecom, Veja reported.
Banco BTG Pactual soon will try to buy Tim, divide it and resell it to Oi, Claro and Vivo, Veja previously.
Vivo, the Brazilian mobile telephone company, is owned by the listed, Spanish company Telefonica. Claro, controlled by Mexico’s America Movil, is the third-largest cell-phone operator in Brazil. America Movil, the largest mobile telephone company in Latin America, is controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu. Oi, the fixed-line operator, is partly owned by Portugal Telecom.
Italia Telecom seeks about USD 12bn for its two-thirds stake in Tim, according to an unsourced report in Rio de Janeiro-based daily newspaper O Globo this past February.
Source Veja, Valor Economico