Telefonica Offers €7.45 Bln For Vivendi's GVT After Telecom Italia's €7 Bln Bid

(RTTNews) - Telecom Italia S.p.A (TI, TIAOF.PK) has made a cash-and-share offer worth 7 billion euros, or $9.2 billion for French conglomerate Vivendi SA's (VIV.L, VIVEF.PK) Global Village Telecom or GVT unit in Brazil. The offer expires on September 10, 2014.

Following Telecom Italia's announcement, Spanish telecom operator Telefonica (TDE.L, TEF) came up with a new bid for Vivendi's GVT valued at 7.45 billion euros, or $9.84 billion, with the offer expiring on August 29.

This offer outbids Telefonica's initial 6.7 billion euro offer made on August 5th and a 7 billion euro counterbid from Telecom Italia. The offer envisages a merger between GVT and Telecom Italia's own Brazilian unit, TIM Participações S.A. (TSU).

Vivendi, in a statement, confirmed receiving two binding offers from both Telecom Italia and Telefonica. The Vivendi Supervisory Board is scheduled to meet today to evaluate the offers.