Telefonica not likely to raise Moviles offer

Telefonica is not looking at raising its 3.5-billion-euro all-share offer for the 7.5% stake it does not yet own of its mobile unit Telefonica Moviles, a Dow Jones report said.

 

A spokesman for the largest telecom company in Spain and Latin America quoted in the report said Telefonica had to wait for Moviles' response to the merger offer announced last week before making any potential change to the offer.

 

The report said Moviles' board of directors was due to meet March 27 to study the offer.

 

Telefonica was proposing a swap of four of its own shares for five Moviles shares, the report said.

Several Spanish dailies reported over the weekend that Telefonica might sweeten the offer, after it faced criticism from minority shareholders, the report said.