Billionaire Carlos Slim Consolidates His 26.8 Percent Stake In Telekom Austria

(RTTNews) - Mexican telecom giant America Movil S.A.B. De C.V. (AMX, AMOV), controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has Thursday acquired an additional 3.14 percent interest in Telekom Austria AG (TKAGY) from a family foundation. This takes his direct and indirect ownership stake in the company to 26.8 percent.

The direct and indirect ownership in Telekom Austria held by Slim, his company and a family investment vehicle, have then been sold to Carso Telecom B.V., which is indirectly controlled by América Móvil, and they do not hold directly or indirectly any further shares in Telekom Austria after the closure of the transaction.

Following the consolidation, Carso Telecom will hold 110.84 million shares with voting rights issued by Telekom Austria corresponding to 25.02 percent of the voting rights in the lssuer and thus will cross the 25 percent threshold of voting rights in the Issuer.

Meanwhile, América Móvil will also directly and indirectly hold 118.78 million shares with voting rights issued by Telekom Austria corresponding to 26.81 percent of the voting rights in the Issuer and thus will cross the 25 percent threshold of voting rights in the Issuer.

The ownership was consolidated to cross the 25 percent threshold that will be large enough to veto important decisions at Telekom Austria, but will still be under the 30 percent mandatory takeover offer threshold according to Austria's takeover code.

Meanwhile, there is speculation that Slim will finally took at taking over the rest of Telekom Austria. The Austrian government owns 28 percent of the former state telecoms provider, and is said to be committed to maintaining a blocking minority of at least 25 percent.

Slim, a Mexican telecommunication boss, has topped the Forbes list of the world's billionaires as the wealthiest person in the world with a estimated $73 billion in assets. Slim controls most of the Mexican cell phone market with his company Telcel co.

There is also an Austrian law that is designed to prevent entities that appear separate from acting together to control or takeover companies. The Austrian has reportedly already expressed their concern related to the consolidation of stake by Slim.

In a similar case, more than a year after its initial investment in KPN, América Móvil wanted to acquire a majority stake in Dutch telecom group Koninklijke KPN N.V. (KKPNY.PK, KPN). Hwever, the takeover bid was thwarted by an independent foundation linked to KPN, which exercised a call option to take a stake of about 50 percent in KPN.

America Movil, which currently holds a nearly 30 percent stake in KPN, has been that company's largest minority shareholder since June 2012.

AMX closed Thursday's regular trading session at $21.92, down $0.26 or 1.17% on a volume of 4.31 million shares.