Takeover News for Baby Bras-Important Read
Telefonica, Iberdrola to Bid for Brazilian Companies (
Brasilia, May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Telefonica SA, Spain's largest telephone company, said it will spend up to $330 million to boost its stakes in four Brazilian cellular companies, including two in partnership with Spanish utility Iberdrola SA.
Telefonica, which owns the biggest chunk of Brazil's formerly state-controlled phone system, plans public tender offers to gain all of Telerj Celular SA and Tele Leste Celular on its own.
Telefonica also will join with Iberdrola to buy outstanding shares in Telebahia Celular SA and Telergipe Celular SA. ''We have a solid position and a very comfortable position to afford this investment,'' a Telefonica spokesman in Madrid said. ''Our strategy is to continue to grow and we are always open to study chances to invest in Latin America.''
Antonio Viana-Baptista, chief executive of Telefonica Internacional, the international arm of Telefonica, said the transaction would strengthen the company's commitment to Brazil and to the country's telecommunications industry in particular.
The offers for preferred and ordinary shares in the four cellular companies will be made at a 50 percent premium over the shares' closing prices last Friday.
The buyout is subject to approval by Brazilian securities regulators, Telefonica said.
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