America Movil, controlled by Mexico billionaire Carlos Slim, offers $4.2BN for stake in Dutch telecom KPN

America Movil, the Latin American telecom giant controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has offered 3.2 billion euros ($4.2 billion) for a bigger stake in Dutch phone and Internet service provider Royal KPN, Reuters reported today.

According to the Financial Times, America Movil has run out of room in Latin America and wants to use KPN as a springboard for expansion into Europe.

It has offered 8 euros a share to lift its stake from 4.8 percent to 28 percent, the New York Times reported.

Bloomberg said the offer was about 24 percent more than KPN’s closing share price on Monday and, if accepted by the Hague-based company, would mark America Movil’s biggest investment outside of Latin America.

“We think it gives us a good vantage point to look at this market in Europe,” Carlos Garcia Moreno, chief financial officer, was quoted by the Financial Times as saying.

America Movil, which has 246 million mobile subscribers in 18 countries, will use existing cash to pay for the stake, according to MarketWatch.

But KPN said the unsolicited offer "substantially undervalues the company", according to Bloomberg.

Forbes magazine ranks Carlos Slim as the world’s richest man, with a fortune of $69 billion as of March.

Analysts said Slim was taking advantage of the European debt crisis to pick up bargains.

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