Sonae ditches partnership with Angola's dos Santos in Portugal's NOS
20/08/2020 12:31
LISBON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Portugal's Sonae YSO.LS has
moved to strengthen its position in local telecoms firm NOS
NOS.LS by increasing its stake and ditching a partnership with
Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola's long-time former
president.
Sonaecom SNC.LS , part of the Sonae conglomerate, said in a
filing late Wednesday it had dissolved ZOPT, a 50-50 venture
with dos Santos that had held a controlling 52.15% stake in NOS.
Dos Santos was named a suspect in a fraud investigation in
Angola in January and her shares in NOS were seized by a Lisbon
court in April, depriving ZOPT as a whole of its voting rights.
Dos Santos has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
ZOPT's assets, including its shares in NOS, will be equally
divided between its shareholders, Sonaecom said in the filing
with Portugal's market regulator CMVM.
Sonae said it in a separate statement it had bought 7.38% of
NOS shares from private bank BPI, and was now the telecom
operator's largest shareholder with a 33.45% stake.
Sonaecom had said in April it would contest the decision to
deprive ZOPT of its voting rights, saying it was "not liable for
the debts of its shareholders". urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2BS0R9
Dos Santos has sold or been stripped of nearly all her
stakes in major Portuguese firms, with her indirect stake in oil
firm Galp GALP.LS now the only one left unscathed by the
scandal.
Dos Santos had no immediate comment.
The investigation into her relates to alleged mismanagement
and misappropriation of funds during her time as chairwoman of
state-owned Angolan oil company Sonangol.
Portugal's public prosecutor ordered the seizure of her
Portuguese bank accounts in February. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2AB6UW
In December, Angola froze her stakes in Angolan firms
including Unitel, BFA and ZAP MIDIA.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, additional reporting by Noah
Browning, editing by Andrei Khalip and Mark Potter)
((Victoria.Waldersee@thomsonreuters.com;))