America Movil takes majority stake in Telekom Austria

Latin American telco America Movil has upped its stake in Telekom Austria to a majority 50.8% after agreeing to buy some €743.4 million-worth of shares in the European operator.

Announcing the deal this morning, Telekom Austria said that America Movil had agreed to buy 103.98 million shares representing approximately 23.47% of the share capital of Telekom Austria at a price of €7.15 per share.

The deal, which comes after America Movil had initially offered to buy all shares of Telekom Austria, will see it own a total of 225.09 million shares in the business, representing roughly 50.80% of the share capital of Telekom Austria.

According to terms of the offer, which expired last Thursday, payment is due to be made on or before July 24.

America Movil acquired a 21% stake in Telekom Austria back in 2012 and last year announced plans to make a €7.2 billion bid for all issued and outstanding shares in KPN in the Netherlands.

Telekom Austria claims roughly 23 million customers in central and eastern Europe. It offers services including IPTV, voice telephony and broadband internet and has a presence in eight countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia and Liechtenstein.