By Anthony Harrup
MEXICO CITY--America Movil's decision to lower its stake in
Royal KPN of the Netherlands was taken for financial reasons, and
doesn't change the telecommunications company's rights or
relationship with the European carrier, America Movil officials
said Wednesday.
America Movil reported that it had a 27.1% stake in KPN at the
end of December, down from 29.8% at the end of September.
"We don't lose any rights [in KPN] if we have 20% plus one
share," Chief Executive Daniel Hajj said in a conference call with
analysts. "We're not reducing synergies with them. Nothing in terms
of operations has changed."
Chief Financial Officer Carlos Garcia Moreno said money from the
sale of the KPN shares was used to pay some net debt at the end of
last year, as part of America Movil's "fine-tuning financials."
America Movil last year launched an unsuccessful attempt to buy
all of KPN, and withdrew the offer after an independent foundation
friendly to KPN exercised an option to acquire nearly half of KPN
shares.
The reduction in the KPN stake led some to speculate that it
lowered the likelihood of America Movil renewing its attempt to buy
the Dutch company. America Movil shares were recently up 0.5% at
14.39 pesos ($1.08) on the Mexican stock exchange.
Company officials gave no indications of what actions America
Movil may take in Europe, where it also has about a 26% stake in
Telekom Austria (TKA.VI).
Mr. Hajj said America Movil has good relations with Telekom
Austria management and with the Austrian government. "What we want
is to develop Austria and the eastern countries ... Nothing has
been changing; we have been trying to integrate synergies between
the companies," he said.
The officials said that in 2014, America Movil plans to make
capital expenditures between $9.5 and $10 billion, which would be a
fourth-consecutive year of capital expenditures around the $10
billion mark.
Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com
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