DirecTV Drops Out of Auction for Vivendi's GVT
March 14 2013 - 6:40PM
Dow Jones News
DirecTV (DTV) said it is dropping out of the auction to buy
Vivendi SA's (VIVEF) GVT, a Brazilian telecom operator.
DirecTV had been eyeing GVT as a way of bolstering its Latin
American operations. But the company "has decided not to move
forward in its pursuit of GVT and has withdrawn from the process,"
a DirecTV spokesman said.
Last week, the company's chief financial officer Patrick Doyle
said at an investor conference that GVT was not a must-have for
DirecTV, and that DirecTV would only go forward if "the economics
are compelling."
Vivendi has been looking to sell off its telecommunications
assets to pare down debt and focus on its media and content
businesses. But few companies have appeared to be willing to pay
the premium it has asked for certain assets like videogame maker
Activision Blizzard, the Wall Street Journal has previously
reported.
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