Mexican based, America Movil said it has agreed to buy back AT&T’s 8.27 percent stake in the company ending a 20 year partnership between the two.
The move enables AT&T to secure regulatory approval for its proposed takeover of DirecTV.
Its shareholders Inmobiliaria Carso and Control Empresarial de Capitales will buy the shares from AT&T International for USD 5.57 billion. AT&T said it expects to realise a profit of 8-10 cents a share from the sale, depending on the final tax on the sale.
Indebted French operator, Vivendi has withdrawn the sale of GVT – its Brazilian subsidiary, after the highest bidder pulled out from the purchase.
The France based conglomerate had sought to raise at least US$9 billion from the sale, but DirecTV pulled out after making their final offer, leaving just an even lower offer from a group of private equity investors.
“GVT is a good asset and we’ll continue to develop it,” a spokesman for Vivendi said on Friday. “The offers we received so far are not satisfactory. We said all along that we would not sell assets at knock-down prices.”
The company has been looking to sell assets to pay down debts built up under the former CEO.
Talks to sell its 53% controlling stake in Maroc Telecom are said to be continuing, and there is renewed speculation that it may sell a stake in its French mobile network, SFR.
However, a spokesman for Vivendi recently commented that “SFR is not for sale.” and is looking at other options to cut costs in the increasingly competitive marketplace.