Vivendi has disposed of the entire 7.5% stake in Telefonica Brasil that it gained as a result of its sale of broadband operator GVT earlier this year.
The French firm on Wednesday announced a deal with Telefonica that saw it exchange 58.4 million Telefonica Brasil shares, equal to a 3.5% stake, for 46 million Telefonica shares, giving it a 0.95% stake in the Spanish incumbent.
The transaction is subject to the approval of Brazilian competition regulator CADE.
Vivendi then announced the sale of the remaining 4% stake after the close of trading in New York on Thursday. It offloaded the 67.9 million shares for US$877 million.
As a result, Vivendi no longer has a direct presence in Brazil.
However, it still has an indirect interest in the market via its 14.9% holding in Telecom Italia, which owns Brazilian mobile operator TIM.
Vivendi gained a stake in Telecom Italia as a result of the GVT deal – Telefonica was previously the Italian incumbent’s largest shareholder – and increased its holding to its current level last month.
The move puts Vivendi firmly back in telecoms, a sector it has appeared keen to exit for the past two years; it closed the sale of its 53% stake in Maroc Telecom to Etisalat and sold French mobile operator SFR to Altice last year.
Now it seems Vivendi’s strategy is more based on geography than market sector.
"Today’s transaction reflects the group’s intention to become more active in Europe and to pursue strategic partnerships there," it said on Wednesday.
