THE HAGUE: Shareholders in Dutch telecom operator KPN yesterday approved the sale of German subsidiary E-Plus to Spain’s Telefonica for five billion euros ($6.8bn) cash and a 20.5-percent stake in Telefonica Deutschland.
“Following completion of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, KPN will receive ¤5bn in cash and a 20.5 percent stake in Telefonica Deutschland,” a statement said after the extraordinary shareholders meeting.
The sale had been expected to be approved because KPN’s largest single shareholder, America Movil, had backed it after Telefonica upped its offer. America Movil, which is controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, is trying to complete a multi-billion-euro hostile takeover of KPN.
However, a Dutch foundation said in August it had exercised a call option to acquire KPN preference shares which would give it just under 50 percent of voting rights and issued shares in KPN. The move would enable it to block America Movil’s offer.
America Movil has threatened to withdraw its offer over the foundation’s intervention, saying it would walk away from the deal in which it valued KPN at ¤10.2bn.
Cash from the E-Plus sale will be used to “further increase financial flexibility and it is KPN’s intention to recommence dividend payments to its shareholders for the financial year 2014,” it said in yesterday’s statement.
AFP
