Brazil’s Oi group sells Portugal Telecom’s stake in Unitel Angola

Brazilian telecommunications group Oi has started the process of selling the 75% stake it owns in Africatel, which in turn has a 25 percent stake in Angolan telecommunications company Unitel, according to a filing with Portuguese market regulator CMVM.
In the statement available on the CMVM website the group said its board of directors had approved all “necessary measures to sell Oi’s stakes in Africatel Holdings, representing 75 percent of Africatel and/or its assets.”
For PT’s African operations inherited by Oi following the merger of the Brazilian and Portuguese companies, the sale of 75 percent of Africatel SGPS also means selling 25 percent held indirectly in Unitel and ending disputes with both Samba Luxco, a partner in Africatel, and with Unitel.
Both Samba Luxco, of Nigeria, and Unitel claim that the PT/Oi merger has affected existing shareholder agreements in Africatel and Unitel.
Financial news agency Bloomberg in late August reported that Oi was negotiating the sale of its stake to other shareholders for US$2 billion but at the time of the PT/Oi merger PT’s position in Africatel had been valued at 3 billion reals, or around 990 million euros. MDT/Macauhub