LONDON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Spain's big telecommunications group Telefonica SA has agreed to pay $31.39 billion for Britain's O2 PLC cell phone operator.
The all-cash deal, expected to close in January, is not expected to meet difficult regulatory resistance from the European Union, the Times of London reported Monday. However, it is possible that other companies may choose to bid for O2, now that Telefonica's bid is formal and public.
The purchase price is a 22-percent premium to O2's closing share price Friday.
O2's board is recommending that shareholders accept Telefonica's offer.
The former arm of British Telecom has been seen as a bid target for several months and recently attracted interest from Deutsche Telekom AG and Dutch group KPN.
Telefonica had a staff of 173,000 at the end of last year, while its customer base stood at 145 million in June. O2 employs 15,000 people and has nearly 25 million customers in Britain, Ireland and Germany.
