Orange to divest Sonaecom stake

France Telecom-Orange has entered into a put and call option that will allow it to sell its 20% stake in Portuguese telco Sonaecom to majority owner Sonae.

The call is exercisable by Sonae over the next 18 months and the put will be exercisable by France Telecom during the three months following this period. Both put and call are exercisable at the same price of €98.9 million, but the price could rise to up to €113.5 million if Sonaecom is involved in a transaction that sees further consolidation or restructuring of the Portuguese telecom market.

In December, Portuguese pay TV leader Zon Multimédia signed an agreement that would see it merge Sonaecom’s telco unit Optimus into its business. The operator’s services include the Optimus Clix IPTV offering.

This agreement is subject to the confirmation of the Portuguese Securities Commission.