Family business roundup: Massmart and America Movil

Wal-Mart mulls buyout of one of several family-owned supermarkets in Kenya; and America Movil moves to buy remaining shares in Royal KPN.

Massmart
South Africa’s Massmart Holdings, a unit of Wal-Mart, is considering the buyout of one of several family-owned retailers in Kenya, as it tries to make inroads into the African nation.

According to Nairobi-based newspaper Business Daily, Naivas, Tuskys and Nakumatt, the family-owned businesses that dominate the sector, are the main targets for the food and household-goods retailer.

Discussions of a sale among Naivas shareholders have prompted one family member to take the matter to court in an effort to stop his siblings selling the family member’s 51% stake in the business.

Wal-Mart has a 52% stake in Massmart, which last month revealed its first-half sales were up 8.9% on the previous year to 32.3 billion rand (€2.5 billion).

In another move to take over a family-controlled business, Wal-Mart is this week expected to make a preliminary bid for supermarket chain ParknShop, which is part of Li Ka-shing’s Hutchison Whampoa.

America Movil
America Movil has launched a €7.2 billion bid for the 70% of Dutch telecom company Royal KPN it does not already own.

The company has said the move is to “unlock the hidden long-term value” of the business, but many speculate it is to challenge a rival offer from Spain’s Telefonica for the group’s German mobile business E-Plus.

Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire who owns America Movil, reportedly wants E-Plus for himself, due to its 15% share of the German market that would be near-impossible to build from scratch.

The Telefonica bid has backing from KPN management, but is yet to be approved by shareholders. It is also expected to attract scrutiny from regulators as it would combine Germany’s third and fourth largest mobile providers.