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Portugal opposition tries to block Oi's sale of PT assets

Xinhua, January 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Portugal's Left Block opposition party attempted to block French company Altice's plans to buy Portugal Telecom assets on Friday.

The Brazilian company Oi decided to sell PT's Portugal based assets in November after Portugal's embattled Banco Espirto Santo defaulted on a 900-million-euro loan from PT.

The Left Block challenged the government to instruct Novo Banco and Social Security representatives to block the sale at a Portugal Telecom (PT) general assembly, according to Portuguese news agency Lusa.

"Next Thursday there is a new shareholders' general assembly and it is possible, using the Novo Banco, Social Security and small shareholders, to gain the 30 percent to block the sale of PT to Altice," said Left Block spokesperson Catarina Martins.

However, Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said the state was "not the new owner of Novo Banco" and could not handle its administration.

"However much it costs the government, it will not interfere in the framework of a private business," Passos Coelho said.

The Left Block's spokeswoman said her party believed that the state had the "obligation to protect the country" and that the prime minister "always opted to choose foreign capital by big shareholders over the country's strategic interest."

Portugal Telecom shareholders managed to take a 10-day suspension of a meeting on the 4.7-billion-euro sale of Oi's PT assets earlier this week. The next meeting is planned for Jan. 22. Enditem