LONDON â€" The Dutch telecommunications company Royal KPN said Thursday that it was still open to pursuing a deal with América Móvil, a day after the company withdrew its takeover offer.
América Móvil, the Latin American telecommunications giant owned by Carlos Slim Helú, said on Wednesday in a United States regulatory filing that it had dropped a 7.2 billion euro, or $9.8 billion, bid to acquire KPN. The decision came after a foundation that looks out for the interest of KPN’s shareholders exercised a call option earlier this summer giving it a nearly 50 percent stake in the company.
A KPN spokesman said Thursday that América Móvil remains an important shareholder, with a nearly 30 percent stake and two seats on its supervisory board.
“We don’t have any problem sitting down with them at the table,†said Stefan Simons, the KPN spokesman.
Those comments came after KPN’s chief executive, Eelco Blok, conducted a conference call with Dutch journalists on Thursday.
“There is a possibility that we will be sitting around the table again,†Mr. Blok said, according to Reuters.
América Móvil, the largest provider of mobile phone service in Latin America, had offered to buy the 70 percent of KPN it did not already own for a price of 2.40 euros, or $3.27, a share in hopes of acquiring a controlling stake in the company. América Móvil said KPN’s management had sought a higher price.
Mr. Simons, the KPN spokesman, said that KPN sought a “total package†it could present to shareholders, including not only a higher price but an agreement on corporate governance and other concerns after a merger.
KPN requires “a strategic partner with operational experience in the telecommunication sector, with sufficient scale and long-term vision, in order to tackle during the upcoming years the significant challenges the European telecommunication sector faces,†América Móvil said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
Earlier this summer, KPN agreed to sell its German subsidiary E-Plus to the Spanish group Telefónica in a cash-and-stock deal worth 8.1 billion euros, or about $11 billion. That deal is awaiting regulatory approval.
América Móvil didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
KPN’s shares were down 8.7 percent, to 2.22 euros, or about $3.02, in afternoon trading Thursday. The company’s shares had been off as much as 10 percent on Thursday.
Mr. Slim owns about a 13 percent stake in The New York Times Company.
