KPN pulls plug on sale of BASE

Reuters writes that struggling Dutch telecoms carrier KPN Telecom (or Royal KPN), which is currently firmly in the sights of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has abandoned plans to sell its Belgian operation BASE due to ‘disappointing’ offers. Although Slim’s America Movil (AM) vehicle, which is the new 28% shareholder in the Dutch telco, expressed its preference to keep BASE under KPN’s umbrella, the beleaguered telco forged ahead with plans to sell the unit in July, when it also slashed its 2012 dividend in half and set about tackling its debts. Commenting on the decision to pull the plug on the sale of BASE – the smallest of Belgium’s three main operators behind Belgacom and Mobistar – the telco said: ‘Current difficult financial market conditions are reflected in unsatisfactory non-binding offers for BASE.’