Mexican telecoms firm América Móvil has made a €2.40 per share offer for former Dutch state monopoly and Dutch mobile phone market leader KPN.

The offer is some 35% higher than KPN’s average share price on the Amsterdam stock exchange over the past 30 days and represents a 20% premium on Thursday’s closing price, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

América Móvil, owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, has been building up a stake in KPN for some time and has almost 30% of the company. KPN was the company’s first investment outside the Americas but the company also has a 24% stake in Telekom Austria.

Agreement

At the end of last month Slim pulled out of an agreement not to expand his interest in the Dutch firm. Commentators said at the time it was clear Slim has ‘plans’ for KPN, which has 41% of the domestic mobile market.

América Móvil says in a statement it aims to acquire a majority stake in KPN ‘in order to facilitate greater operational cooperation and coordination between the two companies, to exploit all areas for potential partnerships and to intensify the realisation of synergy potential for both companies’.

In addition ‘América Móvil aims to support to a greater extent KPN’s plans in a rapidly changing environment in Europe so that both companies benefit from their respective experiences in the sector’.

E-Plus

In late July, KPN announced it had reached agreement to sell its German mobile operation E-Plus to Spain’s Telefonica in a cash and shares deal.

América Móvil said in its statement that it is ‘carefully evaluating the merits of the proposed transaction’ and has not yet decided whether to support it at the shareholders’ meeting to discuss the deal. That meeting will take place in the next few weeks.

Commentators said Slim pulled out of the deal not to expand his stake in KPN because of the E-Plus sale which threatened his plans to build up a European network.

Consider

KPN said in a statement the management and supervisory boards ‘took note’ of the offer and will ‘carefully consider it’ in relation to their ‘commitment to the continuity of KPN and the interests of all stakeholders’.

Economic affairs minister Henk Kamp said on Friday he will keep a close eye on the developments at KPN. But he stressed that any takeover is a matter for shareholders.

‘KPN is one of a number of providers and and important player. That will remain the case, no matter who the shareholders are,’ he said.