Sawiris, Pecik sell Telekom stake to America Movil

Cairo - Egyptian telecom tycoon Naguib Sawiris and partner Ronny Pecik  have agreed to sell their stake in Telekom Austria Group  to America Movil (AM), the pan-Latin American telecoms giant owned by the World’s richest man Carlos Slim. 

According to terms of the deal, Carlos Slim’s AM has agreed to buy a 21% stake;  AM acquired approximately 5 percent of the shares in Telekom Austria and will buy an additional 16 percent stake pursuant to governmental approvals and other customary authorisations customary; the acquisition of this additional stake is expected to close during 2012. 

A company statement reads: ‘This acquisition positions AM as a long-term strategic partner of Telekom Austria. It is part of AM’s geographic diversification strategy and provides an attractive presence in Central and Eastern Europe.

AM expects to develop a constructive relationship with Telekom Austria’s stakeholders, and is confident about the company’s overall potential for development. Ronny Pecik is expected to continue to serve as vice-chairman of the Supervisory Board, and to support the future development of Telekom Austria’. 

Although the financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, Bloomberg reports that, based on yesterday’s closing share price, a 21% stake in Telekom Austria would be worth around $945 million. 

For his part, Pecik has described AM as ‘a strong shareholder for a secure and stable future’, whilst Sawiris, who last month denied that he had entered into partnership with Pecik ‘to buy and sell shares’, conceded that he had made a ‘nice profit’ from the deal with AM.  According to the Egyptian billionaire, ‘Everyone is happy’. 

AM’s acquisition forms part of the group’s strategic expansion into the European market. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database reports that Slim has also offered to boost its stake in former Dutch phone monopoly Royal KPN to 27.7 percent. 

Mexican business magnate and philanthropist Carlos Slim is currently ranked as the richest person in the world in 2012, his business interests spans across several sectors including: communications, technology, retailing, and finance. Slim’s telecom powerhouse, AM is the leading provider of telecommunication services in Latin America.

As of March 31, 2012, it had 306 million accesses in the Americas, including 246 million wireless subscribers and 60 million fixed revenue-generating units.