Pension funds Previ, Petros and Telos are against payment by Telemar of an extra 114 million Brazilian Reals in recognition of ?synergy gains? from acquisition of Pegasus, says a source linked to the funds. They won?t be able to vote on the proposal at a shareholder meeting convened by Telemar for November 29. This is because they hold only preferred stock, which in accordance with Brazilian law doesn?t carry voting rights. Only minority shareholders, who account for about 2.5% of voting stock, will be entitled to vote. ?It will be extremely odd if those shareholders approve the proposal for Telemar to spend more money on Pegasus. No one else wants to buy the data service provider, so why raise the ante?? asks the source. Two weeks ago Telemar?s board approved acquisition of a 99.9% stake in Pegasus for 221.8m BRL plus the already-mentioned 114m BRL for future synergy gains. This second sum, however, must be approved by minority shareholders at a specially convened meeting. It?s worth recalling that Telemar will also take Pegasus?s debt on board. At the last appraisal on June 30, the debt amounted to 339.1m BRL. The price offered is the average of the assessments performed by Goldman Sachs and UBS Warburg, which Telemar retained to make the acquisition transparent. This makes sense in light of the fact that Andrade Gutierrez, La Fonte, Opportunity and GP Investimentos are all shareholders of Telemar as well as Pegasus.
Infrastructure
