LISBON (Reuters) - Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos has launched a takeover bid for holding company Portugal Telecom SGPS in order to become a key shareholder in Brazilian telecom group Oi and reap synergies in the Portuguese-speaking telecoms sector.
Dos Santos wants to link Portugal Telecom, Oi and Angolan telecoms firm Unitel if she succeeds in her bid for PT SGPS, which has a stake of around 26 percent in Oi, Mario Silva, a board member of her company Terra Peregrin said on Thursday.
"This leading operator in the Portuguese-speaking world would apply the best practices and allow for large synergies," Mario Silva told journalists.
Dos Santos, the daughter of Angola's president and one of Africa's richest people, is chief executive of Unitel, Angola's largest telecom firm.
The bid for Portugal Telecom SGPS for 1.35 euros a share will only go ahead if Oi does not sell Portugal Telecom's operations in Portugal to Altice, which has made a bid of 7.4 billion euros (5.8 billion pounds) for them, Silva said. He said the offer price will not be changed.
Silva said Terra Peregrin had talked to shareholders in PT SGPS and some Oi shareholders about the bid.
The sale of Portugal Telecom's operations by Oi would effectively unwind a merger between the two companies. Under the merger terms, Oi gained control of the Portuguese telecom operations while the Lisbon-listed holding company Portugal Telecom SGPS retained a 26 percent stake in Oi.
(Reporting By Sergio Goncalves, writing by Axel Bugge)