Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman has emerged in Brazil with a $4 billion pledge to prop up a local phone company and hasten consolidation in Latin America’s largest telecommunications market.
The proposal to contribute funds to Oi SA through Fridman’s LetterOne is conditional upon the carrier agreeing to a combination with rival Tim Participacoes SA, the company controlled by Telecom Italia, according to a filing from Oi on Monday.
If the merger goes ahead, LetterOne will be an important shareholder in the new company, though the exact size of the stake has yet to be defined. The LetterOne investment will be presented to Oi’s board later this week and if it’s approved, “a formal proposal to Telecom Italia will be made by the end of November,” said the Wall Street Journal.
Full content: The Wall Street Journal
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