Zeinal Bava, chief executive of Oi-Portugal Telecom, reckons the enlarged group – once the merger of the two companies is complete – would have little difficulty in raising money for acquisitions should it want to bolster Oi’s mobile position.

Speaking at a conference, reported by Reuters, Bava did not rule out a share sale – either to fund deals or to reduce the new company’s debt.

Bava admitted he did not feel comfortable with the group’s debt level after the deal, which, Reuters estimates, will be roughly 3.2 times core annual profit. Oi’s boss added that the market would probably prefer debt levels closer to 2 times core profit.

Although Oi is Brazil’s largest fixed-line operator, it ranks fourth in mobile. There is some analyst speculation that Oi might buy part of Telecom Italia’s TIM Brasil.

Market leader Telefonica, now the largest stakeholder in Telecom Italia, has, according to some reports, been in favour of selling the Brazilian unit to raise cash. (Sources earlier told Reuters that Telefonica aims to sell Tim Brasil in the second half of 2014.)

None of the main players in Brazil could buy all of Tim Brasil, points out Reuters, because of antitrust concerns.

“We will continue to monitor what happens in Brazil,” Bava said. “We have the ability to look at acquisitions if we want to, but right now our focus is to simplify our corporate structure by finalising the merger. Once we do that we can look at other things.”

The Oi-Portugal Telecom merger is expected to be completed in the first half of next year.