Portugal Telecom on Wednesday insisted that it has provided all the necessary information to enable its shareholders to vote on the sale of its domestic assets at Thursday’s meeting.
In a statement the telco said that it "has disclosed, on time and in compliance with the applicable legal provisions, the preparatory information for the general meeting, and does not have any additional information regarding the matter subject to the evaluation and resolution of the shareholders."
The Portuguese incumbent’s shareholders were due to meet last week to vote on the planne d €7.4 billion deal with Altice, but the telco postponed the meeting after the country’s stock market regulator requested more information on the proposed transaction.
Earlier this month the Securities Market Commission, or CMVM, claimed that Portugal Telecom had failed to provide the information it had requested about the deal, warning that shareholders did not have enough details to be able to make an informed decision.
The Portuguese assets in question are controlled by Brazil’s Oi, which agreed to sell them to Altice in late November, with a view to using the proceeds to participate in consolidation in its home market.
Portugal Telecom holds a 25.6% stake in an enlarged Oi after the pair began merger proceedings last year. Its shareholders could block the Altice deal and there has been opposition to it from some quarters.
However, both Portugal Telecom and Oi have indicated that the result of the shareholder vote will have no bearing on their merger, which has yet to be fully finalised.
Any attempt to have the merger reversed would lead to "a legal dispute of unpredictable duration in the Brazilian courts, further prolonging the deadlock situation of PT Portugal and inevitably creating a process of destruction of value for all parties involved," Portugal Telecom warned.
