The antitrust regulator BrazilCade (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica), approved on Wednesday with corrective measures the sale of the mobile telephony operations of Hi SA to TIM Participacoes SA, Telefonica Brazil S.A. Y Cleara subsidiary of the Mexican América Móvil .
The decision of cade It came after a 3-3 tie, with the vote of the organization’s president, Alexandre Cordeiro Macedo, who decided to approve the operation.
Oi’s shares rose sharply after the ruling, erasing earlier losses of up to 19% recorded when the agency seemed leaning toward rejecting the deal. They were up 1.9% at 1.06 reais by late afternoon.
The operation has been under scrutiny since the end of 2020, when the three companies were awarded the assets in an auction that was later contested by rivals such as Algar Telecom. They submitted a joint offer of 16.5 billion reais ($3.16 billion).
The cade it also unanimously approved the Brazilian federal prosecutor’s request to investigate possible antitrust practices by the companies.
The prosecution asked the regulator earlier this week to block the sale due to a “violation of competition” and “possible exclusionary practices”.
Brazil’s telecoms regulator Anatel had approved the deal in January 2022, but the sale still needed a green light from Cade.
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