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Spanish to go Dutch?
(23 Apr 2008, BWCS Staff)Acquisitive Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica is reportedly licking its lips yet again, this time the dish on offer is said to be Dutch telco KPN. According to reports in the Financial Times German edition, the Madrid-based group is seriously considering a bid for KPN. The two companies have been linked several times before and eight years ago even came close to a merger. However, the renewed interest is said to be sparked by reports that France Telecom is preparing to bid for TeliaSonera and Telefonica does not wish to be left behind in the new round of empire building.
In fact it could be argued that Telefonica itself started the recent round of cosying-up between major European telecoms companies, when it took a stake in Telecom Italia earlier in the year. Deutsch Telekom has also recently bought into Greek telco OTE.
The Financial Times quoted an insider at Telefonica as saying that the company had been reviewing its strategic options and looking at possible synergies with the Dutch company if it does launch a bid for KPN. Officially, there has been no word of talks or a bid being imminent.
Telefonica and KPN compete in Germany, where KPN unit E-Plus is the number-three mobile operator and Telefonica's O2 is number four.
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