Bloomberg: AT&T Explored Potential Deals With Telefonica
6/20/2013 11:57 PM ET
Telecom giant AT&T Inc. (T: Quote) has explored potential deals in the last two months, including buying a stake in Spanish telecommunication group Telefonica S.A. (TEF: Quote,TDE.L) or some of its foreign assets, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing three people familiar with the situation.
According to the Bloomberg report, AT&T approached Spanish authorities to discuss about its interest in buying about a 29.9 percent stake in Telefonica, but the proposal was not welcomed. AT&T also reportedly evaluated buying assets such as Telefonica's UK unit O2 or its Latin American businesses.
AT&T reportedly explored the possibility of an outright merger with Telefonica in recent months, but Telefonica's 51 billion euros in debt would have complicated the deal.
However, Telefonica had said last Monday that it did not receive any approach or any indication of interest from any party. The company's announcement came after a media report that the Spanish government blocked a friendly takeover bid from AT&T for some 70 billion euros and 52 billion euros in debt.
AT&T is seeking to expand in Europe amid growing competition in the U.S and is said to be interested in buying the assets owned by Telefonica and Vodafone Group plc (VOD: Quote,VOD.L). According to the Bloomberg report, AT&T is also eyeing EE, the UK joint venture of France Telecom SA and Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGY).
In 2o12, Deutsche Telekom failed in its attempt to sell T-Mobile USA in a $39 billion deal to AT&T after US regulators concluded that the merger would curb competition for mobile wireless services and raise prices.
T closed Thursday's trading at $34.35, down $0.90 or 2.55 percent on a volume of 31.81 million shares. TEF closed Thursday's trading at $12.96, down $0.36 or 2.70 percent on a volume of 3.41 million shares.