America Movil snipped its stake in Telekom Austria but said it has “no current intention” to sell any of the remaining 51 per cent holding.

The current sale is small, involving a sale of just 0.89 per cent in the Austrian incumbent to institutional investors, and still leaves the Mexican giant holding a majority stake.

The company agreed to sell 7.8 per cent of its stake in Telekom Austria to the market at the end of July. The sale reduced its stake from 59.70 per cent to 51.89 per cent.  It now appears the Mexican giant has capped how low it wants to see the stake go.

In addition, American Movil agreed to a 180 day lock-up provision with what it termed “customary exceptions”.

Back in October last year, it was reported the Austrian government was prepared to sell its 28.4 per cent stake to America Movil but this was denied.

The balance of share in the company, equivalent to a stake of about 20 per cent, is a free float.

Q2 struggles
Domestically, America Movil is feeling some pain from competition, as can be seen from its recent Q2 results.

Although group revenue rose 6 per cent from the year-earlier quarter to MXN233 billion ($12.7 billion), the increase reflected the appreciation of several currencies against the Mexican peso in the period, particularly the Brazilian real and the Colombian peso. At constant exchange rates service revenues were down 2.1 per cent year-on-year.

Domestically, service revenue fell by 11 per cent and mobile service revenue was down a painful 17 per cent, mainly because of reduced prepaid revenue.

Telekom Austria offers a source of diversification from America Movil’s Latin American heartland, although Q2 did not give great relief. Revenue from the Telekom Austria Group was effectively flat at just over €1 billion, while EBITDA fell by one per cent to €329 million.