Telefonica has formally waived its voting rights in Telecom Italia as part of its ongoing acquisition of Brazil’s GVT.
The move ensures the Spanish operator’s compliance with rulings made by Brazilian regulator Anatel over the past few months. In return for allowing the demerger of Telco – Telecom Italia’s former shareholder group that included Telefonica as a majority partner – and the transfer of Telecom Italia shares to Vivendi as part of the GVT buy, Anatel required that Telefonica cease its influence over the Italian incumbent.
"In compliance with the two Anatel decisions, we…expressly and irrevocably waive all political rights to be held by Telefonica in TI, as well as in any companies controlled by TI, including TIM Celular and Intelig Telecomunicacoes," Telefonica said in a statement to Spain’s stock market regulator, the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV).
As such, it may no longer participate in key d ecision-making processes; it no longer has any sway over the appointment of directors, nor any voting or veto rights.
Telefonica was left with a 14.8% share of Telecom Italia’s voting rights after the separation of the Telco consortium last year.
In September Telefonica agreed to buy Brazilian broadband provider GVT from Vivendi for €4.66 billion in cash and an exchange of shares, including the transfer of some of its Telecom Italia stake to GVT. Anatel agreed to the share transfer earlier this month.
Last week Reuters reported that Telefonica is planning a €3 billion capital increase to help fund the cash portion of the GVT deal. The newswire’s sources believe an announcement from the operator to be imminent.
