Exclusive: Vivendi gets four bids for GVT - sources
Vivendi is examining four non-binding offers above 6 billion euros ($7.75 billion) for its Brazilian broadband specialist GVT, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The offers are below the 7 billion euros that sources had earlier told Reuters Vivendi was aiming to garner from the sale of GVT, an alternative provider of fixed telephone, broadband, and TV services in 120 Brazilian cities.
Preliminary bids were submitted by satellite group DirecTV , Mexican telecom giant America Movil , and a group of private equity funds, said two people familiar with the matter.
U.S. billionaire John Malone's cable group Liberty Global has also submitted a bid, said a second person.
Telecom Italia , which owns Brazil's second-largest mobile operator but has a small market share in broadband, did not bid. But the debt-laden group may get back into the running after a December 6 board meeting at which it is scheduled to discuss GVT and a spin off of its Italian fixed network, the two sources said.
Vivendi initially received more than four non-binding offers and had retained four to go on to the next stage of the process the first person said. It aims to have final bids by early January.
(Reporting by Leila Abboud, Editing by Dominique Vidalon)