Portuguese stock market regulator CMVM (Comissao do Mercado de Valores Mobiliarios) has ruled that Telefonica still controls the voting rights of the Portugal Telecom shares it sold last week to undisclosed buyers. On 24 June, Telefonica announced it had sold the shares through so-called equity swaps. CMVM says the eight percent PT stake that Telefonica had sold still belongs to the Spanish company for the purposes of the PT shareholder assembly scheduled for 30 June. On 30 June, PT shareholders will discuss and vote on Telefonica's EUR 6.5 billion offer for Brazilian joint venture Vivo. The regulator said the contract for the sale of the PT shares "includes mechanisms that de facto allows Telefonica to recover the sold shares". The president of the shareholder meeting is expected to decide whether Telefonica will be allowed to vote its share at the meeting, or if the Spanish giant will be prevented from voting because of a conflict of interest.
