Carlos Slim did it. In its third move within a month, telecom group América Móvil, which is controlled by billionaire Slim, reached its goal of increasing its stake in Dutch-based KPN NV from 4.8% to 27.7%. KPN shareholders representing nearly 40% of all shares had accepted an offer of €8 per share, according to América Móvil.
Last week, América Móvil announced it had entered into a number of ordinary share transactions, including 27 transactions outside regular market trading. As a result, América Móvil took 299,517,225 ordinary shares in KPN, representing a capital interest of 20.92%. That followed a previous move that increased its stake to 8.46% in KPN.
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When América Móvil announced its plan to purchase a 28% stake in KPN, the Dutch telecom operator tried to block the move by looking to take offers on the sale of its Belgian BASE mobile phone business, according to Reuters. The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, also reported that KPN had considered spinning off its E-Plus German mobile business.
América Móvil’s move to increase its stake in KPN showed the carrier’s interest in expanding its presence across the European market, home of its biggest Latin American rival Telefónica. América Móvil has been on a buying spree of late, having also recently increased its share in Telekom Austria.
According to advisory firm Maravedis-Rethink, América Móvil holds 38% market share across Latin America, followed by Spain-based Telefónica with 25%. Together they represent two-thirds of the regional total mobile subscriber base and are expected to dominate the LTE market in coming years.
Slim has bought a lot of carriers throughout Latin America to enhance his telecom empire. Moving into the Eurpean market helps diversify América Móvil’s revenue base and risks, and provides scale. In addition, with Europe facing an economic crisis, prices for telecom operators have become more attractive.
The strategic plan to go beyond the Latin American region also includes the United States where América Móvil recently closed on a deal to acquire Simple Mobile, consolidating its dominate position in the U.S.-based prepaid space.
