Sonae chairman still won't raise Portugal Telecom offer |
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Fri, 19 Jan 2007 08:33
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LISBON (AFX) - Belmiro de Azevedo, chairman of Sonae SGPS, reiterated that the conglomerate's telecoms unit Sonaecom SGPS has no plans to increase its 10.7 bln eur hostile takeover bid for larger rival Portugal Telecom SGPS.'Something absolutely extraordinary, like finding diamonds or oil under one of Portugal Telecom's many buildings' would have to happen for Sonaecom to raise its offer, he said on state-owned RTP television.Speaking in the wake of reports that Telefonica SA might be prepared to sell its 10 pct stake in PT if the offer was raised, Belmiro de Azevedo said: 'Our price is the same. No one can force us to pay more than we should and can pay.'Portugal Telecom shares closed up 0.69 pct yesterday at 10.24 euros.Sonaecom's 9.50 eur per share offer, Portugal's biggest ever takeover bid, opened on Tuesday and will close on March 9, more than a year after the Sonae group first announced the proposal in February last year.Sonaecom can revise its offer for the former state monopoly upwards until the final 10 days of the operation. If it were to raise the bid, its new offer would have to be at least 5 pct higher.Yesterday Spanish daily La Razon cited market sources as saying that Telefonica would sell its PT shareholding if SonaeCom raised its offer by about one euro per shares.Andrew.Newby@Thomson.comds/anCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
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Lisbon shares AFX market data at 10.29 am - Sonaecom up after bid registered 