America Movil SAB's plan to purchase Royal KPN encountered problems over the price of the proposed offer. The Dutch phone carrier's management wanted a higher offer for the deal, said people who were familiar with the discussions.
KPN had been pushing for America Movil to increase its initial proposal valued EUR2.40. KPN argued that the tax offset from the sale of its German unit made the company more valuable. America Movil had pointed to the recent entry of Ziggo NV into the Dutch mobile market which showed an evidence of deteriorating prospects, justifying its first offer for the deal. This was according to sources who asked not to be identified as the matter was held private in nature.
The sources added that America Movil had been having trouble winning over the biggest shareholder of KPN. The said shareholder is an independent foundation holding a stake of just under 50%. The independent foundation was allowed to fend off takeovers if it disagreed with the terms of a proposed deal. One of the sources said, KPN had been seeking around EUR2.65 per share piece of EUR7.9 billion. The price would reflect its tax decision analysis, said one of the sources.
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