Angolan, French bids target Portugal Telecom

A battle has started for control of Portugal Telecom, with an Angolan takeover bid countering a French company's offer.

The Lisbon stock exchange on Monday suspended trading in shares of Portugal Telecom SGPS SA after a 1.2 billion euro ($1.5 billion) bid from Terra Peregrin, a Lisbon-based company wholly owned by Isabel dos Santos, a businesswoman and daughter of longtime Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

PT is owned by Brazilian operator Oi, which is considering a 7 billion euro debt-free bid for PT made last week by France's Altice. Oi described Terra Peregrin's bid as "inopportune."

PT's share price has plunged around 60 percent in recent months after the company revealed it lent around 900 million euros to a Portuguese company that went bankrupt.

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