France Télécom has swapped its voting shares in Telmex, Mexico’s largest telephone company, for non-voting shares. The deal is part of a plan to make it easier to begin selling its stake in Telmex, valued at over $3 billion. France Télécom, which was part of the original group of investors that bought Telmex in a privatization 10 years ago, said the swap should make it easier for an “orderly disposal of the stock” by exchanging Series AA voting shares for more liquid non-voting Series L shares. France Télécom’s decision was made in agreement with Telmex’s main shareholders, Carlos Slim’s Carso Global Telecom and SBC Communications of the US. France Télécom is also a major shareholder in Telecom Argentina, one of that country’s two privatized fixed line telephone companies.
