Telefonica to buy E-Plus from KPN

[inquisitor]

According to telegeography yesterday AMX has cancelled an agreement with KPN that forbade AMX to increase its share in KPN beyond the important threshold of 30% of the voting capital (today AMX holds between 25% and 30%-1 share in KPN). Regardless of this agreement the 30% threshold is important because once it is exceeded according to article 5:70 Wet op het financieel toezicht the holding entity (AMX) must submit a takeover bid for all outstanding shares.
The cancellation of the above mentioned agreements suggests that AMX intends to increase its share to 30% which will force AMX to submit a mandatory bid for the remaining 70%. It is unclear how much AMX would bid and how many shareholders would take their offer but in any case AMX will need to have available enough funds for a full takeover. Against this background I doubt that Carlos Slim will enter into a bidding competition with Telefonica, although I always thought he was reaching out for E-Plus when AMX acquired its share in KPN.