The often-perplexing ownership riddle at the heart of Brazilian telecoms giant Oi SA has taken another twist, with the Rio de Janeiro-based firm confirming that Portuguese holding company Portugal Telecom SGPS (PT SGPS) has transferred 47.435 million common shares and 94.870 million preferred shares issued by Oi SA to Portugal Telecom International Finance BV (PT Finance), a company registered in the Netherlands.
The transfer of the shares, which correspond to 16.58% of the total common shares and 16.58% of the total preferred shares issued by Oi, was approved by the board of directors at a meeting on 26 March. However, Oi notes that ‘PT Finance is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Oi and, therefore, the shares transferred by PT SGPS to PT Finance will be considered, as the case may be, treasury shares’.