CITIC Telecom raises CTM stake to 99%

MACAO - CITIC Telecom International Holdings, controlled by China's biggest State-owned investment company, will buy 79 percent of Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau for $1.16 billion to raise its total stake in the local phone operator to 99 percent, CTM said in a statement quoted by The Macao Post Daily on Monday.

CITIC Telecom will purchase 51 percent of CTM from Cable & Wireless Communications for $749.7 million. And it will buy a 28 percent stake from Portugal Telecom (PT) for $411.6 million, according to the statement. The purchases increase its holding from 20 percent to 99 percent.

CTM said it expected the transactions to be completed within six to nine months.

Macao's Post Office, which is fully owned by the local government, owns the remaining 1 percent of CTM.

CTM has the right to provide local and international switched fixed voice and data services in Macao until December 31, 2016, renewable for another five-year period, according to the statement. As of November 30, its unaudited net asset value was about 1.7 billion patacas ($215.5 million).

CTM was established in 1981, with CWC as its main founding shareholder.