Vivendi to decide on GVT sale within weeks, paper says

Brazilian newspaper Folha de S Paulo writes that French media and telecoms group Vivendi may reach an agreement on the sale of its local alternative telecoms operator Global Village Telecom (GVT) within the next few weeks. The paper says that there are two interested parties for the company – DirecTV and an investment fund group led by KKR & Co – and claims that the government will most likely have authorised any deal and that ‘just the details’ remain to be ironed out. The paper goes on to say that the French parent may be willing to accept a stock swap as part of the deal, given Vivendi’s asking price of around USD9.6 billion which the parties involved say seems very high. Final offers for GVT are expected to materialise in March. The sale of the Brazilian telco was was first announced in August 2012.