Vivendi to face competition in bid for Brazil's GVT

Vivendi may be the first suitor to offer [1] its hand to Brazil's GVT with a $2.9 billion bid, but industry watchers are certain that it won't be long before Spain's major incumbent carrier Telefonica launches a counter bid for the company. However, Telefonica has yet to put forth a formal counterbid for GVT.

Analysts believe the possibility of a GVT/Vivendi union has benefits for both companies. Vivendi, which owns a majority stake in France's SFR, would be able to offset continuing wireline losses it has incurred in its European markets by diversifying its holdings in emerging markets such as Brazil and Latin America. A merger with Vivendi would enable GVT to leverage Vivendi's content delivery knowledge and get access to funding for its own market expansion plans.

"The bid is positive and will help GVT to grow faster by providing new capital," said Henrique Scanavini, senior consultant at consultancy Frost & Sullivan in São Paulo, in an interview with Telecommunications.

For more:
- Telecommunications has this article [2]

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