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CEO Daniel Hajj reportedly interested in acquiring some or all of troubled Brazilian telco.
America Movil is evaluating a potential bid for troubled Brazilian telco Oi, it emerged this week.
A report by Valor Economico on Wednesday quoted the CEO of the Mexico-based telco group, Daniel Hajj, as saying he is interested in consolidation in Brazil.
Oi, which filed for creditor protection in June, said it is open to selling assets, including real estate and its mobile business, as part of its restructuring plan.
According to the Valor report, America Movil, which offers services in Brazil under the Claro brand, is interested in Oi irrespective of whether the company is broken up.
"We are open to looking at anything," said Hajj, in the report.
"We believe Oi is too large for any of the existing players to acquire it entirely, due to market concentration," said Credit Suisse, in a separate report by Reuters, adding that a sale of part of the business would make more sense.
Oi was nearly involved in market consolidation last year, when it engaged in exclusive talks with Telecom Italia about a merger with its TIM Brasil unit. Russian investment group LetterOne (L1) Technology even pledged to plough US$4 billion into Oi on the proviso that Oi struck a deal with Telecom Italia.
However, the Italian incumbent backed away in February this year, and L1 withdrew its funding offer, causing Oi’s share price to plummet.
