Telefonica has received a €10 billion offer on a majority stake in its business across eight Latin American markets.
El Mundo reports that a “very powerful” group of entrepreneurs in the region made the offer for a 51% stake in the Movistar units that Telefonica is separating from its core operations. These include operations in Argentina, Chile and Mexico.
While the identities of the bidders have not been revealed, the offer was received from a company headquartered in Colombia. If their offer is accepted, the remaining 49% of shares would be split across several shareholders including Telefonica, which could hold a stake of 20-25%.
In November 2019, Telefonica announced that it planned to spin off most of its Latin American units as part of a major restructuring. Only its Brazilian operations will continue to be administered from its Spanish head office, with Telefonica CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete saying that the group would explore mergers in other markets or consider “reducing our position”.
