A consortium of entrepreneurs based in Latin America offered to buy a 51 per cent stake in Telefonica’s business covering eight markets in the region for €10 billion, El Mundo reported.

The newspaper said a group described as “very powerful” planned to establish a holding company to house assets Telefonica is set to spin-off from its core business. This includes the operator’s Movistar units in Argentina, Chile and Mexico.

Identities of the billionaires were not disclosed, but they are said to be based across a number of Latin American countries, with the offer being made from a company operating out of Colombia.

Under the offer, the consortium would hold 51 per cent of the stock with the remainder divided across minority shareholders including Telefonica itself, which would retain a stake of between 20 per cent and 25 per cent.

Telefonica is in the process of reviewing its business in Latin America as part of a massive restructure announced in November 2019. It plans to spin-off the vast majority of its interests in Central and South America, only retaining its unit in Brazil as one of its core markets controlled from its headquarters in Spain.

On announcing the new direction for the company, CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete (pictured) said Telefonica would review its presence in the eight countries, with a view to combining units or “reducing our position”.