Nos shareholder Dos Santos bids for Portugal Telecom

Isabel dos Santos, the businesswoman daughter of long-serving Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos, and a major shareholder in Portuguese pay TV service provider Nos, has tabled a €1.211 billion bid for Portugal Telecom SGPS, the holding company that owns a minority stake in the merged Oi-Portugal Telecom. 

The bid of €1.35 a share by Dos Santos’ Terra Peregrin Portuguese holding company, which is conditional on acquiring over 50% of Portugal Telecom’s shares and no major sales of strategic assets, offers a premium of 11% on the stock’s closing price on Friday.

Dos Santos’s move follows Numericable-owner Altice’s €7 billion bid for the Portuguese assets of Oi/Portugal Telecom last week.

Portugal Telecom SGPS owns a 37% stake in Oi, the Brazilian telco that is still in the process of implementing a troubled merger with Portugal Telecom. The Dos Santos vehicle said it supported the merger between the Portuguese and Brazilian telcos but said that its bid could delay the process. Altice’s bid would reverse the merger between Portugal Telecom and Oi.

Nos is the major competitor to Portugal Telecom in the Portuguese market. The company’s other shareholders are not involved in the bid.